Flying Solo
by Nyaa-Neko
Summary: After being framed for a crime she didn't commit, Mint runs away to a small town where she tries to blend in, and start a new life. However, the real criminal is still out there, and as time progresses, they pose more and more of a threat.
1. Departure

**WARNING! This fic contains mention of rape and shoujo-ai. This is NOT a Mint/Zakuro fic, though. Read if these concepts do not offend you.**

Flying Solo

Chapter I- Departure

Mint couldn't believe it. She stared down at her dress. She really couldn't believe it, but there was proof. It was torn and dirty from running.

You'd be surprised how small Tokyo can seem. It was almost as if, if you were a tourist or someone who spent little time in the city, how you can melt away and be a part of the crowd. It would seem, if this were the chance, that you could be a nobody in Tokyo, there were too many people in the city for you to be noticed. But if you were Mint Aizawa, at this current time, it seemed that every time she turned a corner, every time a person passed her, every time she walked by a store window, she saw somebody she knew who wanted to "help" her. Or she saw somebody she knew who wanted her to be punished for something she didn't do. Or it was some complete stranger who recognized her and suddenly thought that the poor girl was the most disgusting thing on the face of the Earth.

Mint had been framed for an awful crime involving a popular model, Zakuro Fujiwara. Every detail of what everybody except for the bird-girl believed was so horrible but so believable. Yes, Mint didn't seem like the aggressive type, but she wasn't exactly Miss Constantly Nice. Yes, Mint didn't seem the type to go after Zakuro, but she did appear to idolize the model. Yes, Mint didn't seem the type of person to do that to somebody, but what if she really was the kind of person to do that?

To take away every little bit of innocence Zakuro had? To knock Zakuro into a coma? To traumatize the teenager for life? Psychologists thought that if Zakuro made a full physical recovery from the supposed Mint Aizawa attack, there was a good chance she would stop talking, have trust problems with everybody, and have problems with relationships.

The story was horrible, disgusting, and offensive. Mint couldn't believe people thought she was like that! And to Zakuro? What part of "role model" did people not seem to understand? She could never think about Zakuro like that. It disgusted her.

But not more than what had actually happened.

Mint shuddered. She would not think of it.

"Mint! There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" Once again, Mint shuddered. Ichigo. Great. It wasn't that Mint hated Ichigo, she didn't, but sometimes that girl could get on your nerves. But wait, scratch that. There was a definite feeling of hate in Mint's mind now towards the sugary pink girl running towards her. And that was just how the cat-girl's voice sounded-sugary. Way, way, way too sugary. Fake sugary.

"Mint, wait up! I think we should talk." Ichigo caught up with the girl, trying hard to ignore the people who, after recognizing Mint or realizing that everyone else was trying to walk as far away from the supposed criminal as possible, avoided the girls. "Mint, I don't think what happened to Zakuro was your fault."

Mint almost gasped. What? Really? Thank the heavens for Ichigo! "Y-You mean it? You believe me?" Mint tried to keep from hugging Ichigo for two reasons. One, it really, really would not help her image and two, Ichigo could be lying or meaning something else.

"Yeah, Mint, you're like, one of my best friends!" Ichigo smiled, though it was strained. Mint lost some confidence in Ichigo. This could be either just because they were friends, or that Ichigo was faking it all together. "Besides, you were probably confused or something. You confessed to Zakuro but she freaked, right? You probably didn't know what you were doing. When I first became a Mew, I couldn't think around Masaya, and you probably couldn't think when Zakuro said no."

"What?" Mint screamed. So much for not hating Ichigo. "You think that I did that to Zakuro?"

Ichigo leaned backwards. "Mint, I know it's awful, but you can get over it. Zakuro will get better, and there will be another guy, or girl, out there for you. Or maybe she'll fall in love with you too!" Ichigo smiled, holding out her hand. "You have friends at the cafe. I know, because you're different, that it seems that everybody hates you. We can help you when you go to court or something. It's going to take some getting used to for us, since you're like...one of those people and all, but we'll try really hard to accept you for who you are!"

Mint scowled. "Are you done?"

Ichigo tipped her head in confusion. "What? Are you mad? Oh no-did your parents throw you out?"

Mint's eyes narrowed. "Yes. And I didn't do it. I don't feel that way for Zakuro! Why do people think I do? Who do you trust more, Ichigo, a stupid reporter or me?"

"Um...well, I'd say you, and I mean it, but the thing is, Mint, you really adore Zakuro. I mean, you always hang around her; you pose with her when we battle kirema anima, and you were crushed when she didn't want to become a Mew. Mint, I know there's a lot of prejudice against people like you, but if you're serious about this, it's okay. We'll still like you, and help you find another Zakuro. Or we could play matchmaker! For you and Zakuro, when she's out of a coma!" Ichigo giggled.

Mint glared at her. "Ichigo. I didn't ra-I didn't to that to her. I don't even love her. I'm attracted to guys, not girls. But I was there. I don't really know what happened, but somebody else was there too."

"Mint...come back to the cafe. We can sort this all out later." Ichigo grabbed Mint's arm, but the other girl pulled away.

"No! I won't go! Nobody believes me! Whoever it was framed me! I didn't do it!" Mint screamed. By this time, Mint could see other people from Cafe Mew Mew. All coming towards her.

"Mint, it's okay. I know it seems like everybody hates you, but we can help you through this. It's okay to love somebody, even if that somebody is more like you than some people think is right." Keiichiro soothed.

"Yeah! You and Zakuro together...it's disturbing, but we can get over it! After, you know, you get counseling. Raping her when she rejected you, that's bad." Ichigo finished.

"Get away from me." The assembled people stared at her, and so did the passers-by. "I can't take this anymore."

Then Mint ran. She ran faster than she thought she could ever run. All she had to do was keep running. People would move out of her way. They were disgusted with her; they didn't want anything to do with her. So it was easy.

So easy to lose yourself with the running. Just running. And not knowing where you go, as long as it's far, far away.

But after awhile, Mint found herself in a park. It was almost peaceful, especially since it wasn't very full.

So, since there was a general absence of people, Mint found a bench. A rather secluded bench, tucked among the trees and hard to spot. The girl sat down on it, drew her legs up to her chest, and cried.

"Hello?" Mint opened her eyes, but didn't look up. She just stared at her legs, still damp with tears, and tried to identify the voice. It was a man, and very masculine. His voice was scratchy, and sounded tough. There was also something strange about it, it sounded like a shriek or a caw of a crow, possibly, and sounded young. Like a man in their early twenties.

"You are Mint Aizawa, correct?"

Mint didn't say anything. This was probably some person from some court, come to take her away for questioning.

"No. I'm nobody." Mint whispered, after awhile. "That's who I want to be, nobody. They can't frame a nobody."

"I am assuming you are talking about the verb 'frame' as in 'to manufacture false evidence against an innocent being to make that being appear guilty of a crime', and not 'to provide with a frame, as a picture'. In that case, you most likely are Mint Aizawa. You are famous from the supposed rape of Zakuro Fujiwara. You are also famous, but under the alias 'Mew Mint', for being a part of the bio-engineered group called 'Tokyo Mew Mew'. You were the first Mew to find a Mew Aqua, and used its power to defeat a giant moth monster that threatened to spread a toxic powder from Tokyo Tower." Mint gasped. Who was this person? "That is correct, is it not?"

Mint sat up, slamming her battered shoes against the soil below the bench. She noticed it was nighttime, but there was enough light to see the park, and anybody in it. The only problem was, as far as she could tell, there was nobody in it. She was the only person, and other than her, the park was empty.

"W-Who are you? And where?" Mint asked warily.

"You are looking in the wrong direction." For the first time, Mint noticed the voice came from above her. Slowly, she looked upwards, and into a bird's eyes.

The bird nodded, and flew down to rest on one of the slats of the wooden bench, settling down to the right of where Mint sat. She noticed he was relatively big, and was a blue-gray color for most of his feathers, and the color varied in different areas of his body. On his neck, the feathers fanned out in a sort of spike pattern, and they made him look sort of menacing. He had sharp yellow eyes, and a large beak akin to those of predatory birds. But was she was drawn to was the talons of the bird, which were sharp and huge.

"What are you? Some kind of bird?" Mint asked, in a slight state of shock.

"Yes, I am a genetically engineered Harpy eagle-human hybrid, slightly like yourself. However, the only human traits that have been evident in testing and in the field are the ability to speak human languages and regional dialects, and the ability to digest foods in the human diet. Other than that, no special powers have been found. Unlike you." The eagle nodded. "So, Miss Aizawa-"

"You can call me Mint." Peeped the girl, in a slight state of awe. Somebody like her? Really like her?

"Right then. Mint, would you like to know my name and ID?" Asked the eagle, bowing his dark grey-blue head.

"Yeah, sure."

"My ID in the labs is Experiment 827. However, they named me Kumotaka." Kumotaka's words had a hint of humility. "I asked to be given more than an ID number, but the scientists were not very creative. They named me after the weather; it was overcast that day, and what I am. 'Cloud eagle' is what they came up with."

Mint smiled for the first time in awhile. "At least your name sounds cool. My parents named me after a plant. 'Kumotaka' sounds…exotic or something." Mint sighed. "Kumotaka, do you know anything about what happened recently to me?"

Kumotaka tipped his head, and hopped closer to Mint. "Yes, how you were framed for what happened Miss Fujiwara. After studying you and your behavior before and after the event, I have concluded you are not to be blamed."

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Mint asked, not looking at the eagle.

Kumotaka thought for a second. "I cannot think of any proof. I am sorry. But I did come with an offer you might be interested in. Do you want to stay in Tokyo, with no home and people who think you are a twisted-minded juvenile criminal?" Mint shook her head. "Have you ever heard of the town 'Moriyama'?" She shook her head again. "That is where the Shiroyama Bird Laboratories are located. It is a small town on the Japanese Alps, on one of the sides of Utsugi-dake. It was created not long ago, and there are not many people there. There is only one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. Many birds stop by there, near the laboratories, so it is an ideal place to study them."

Mint blinked. "Your point is...what?"

"If you wanted to, you could come live there, at least temporarily. You know you are innocent, but the crime did happen. You could live there until you are proven innocent. Because if it happened, somebody had to be responsible for it. Only you, Doctor Shiroyama, and I would know who you are really. The others would know you as a fake name and identity."

"I don't know, it seems-" Mint was cut off. She could hear shouts of her name in the distances. "Let's go. Now. Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!" Very quickly, she changed into her secret identity, shivering slightly from the drop in her internal temperature as the small blue dress materialized on her body. After checking her wings, she looked at Kumotaka. "I don't know for how long I can fly, but I want out of Tokyo. Can we please go now?"

It was an hour after Mint and Kumotaka started to fly away from the park in Tokyo. They hadn't spoken yet in their flight, and they had already passed the boundaries of the city. Looking behind her, Mint stared at the lights of the city in the nighttime.

"Mint?" Mint glanced at her friend. Yes, her friend. So far, from what she had gathered about him, he was her only friend. He believed her.

"Yeah?" Her voice was a little breathy, as she wasn't used to flying. It was a physical activity, and her wing muscles weren't in top shape.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm okay." Mint nodded to herself. She had to believe that. "I'm going to be okay."

Because nobody would know about Mint Aizawa in Moriyama. They would know another girl, and that other girl would not know Mint Aizawa.

And that other girl would be okay. She had to be okay. Nobody would ever frame that girl of anything.

And Mint would become that girl.

She had to.

**Author's Note/Disclaimer:  
Hi everybody! Thank you for the reviews for Graduation! I'm still getting used to how to upload these fics, so please bear with me! Here is a different story I got the idea for, a sort of anti-Mint/Zakuro fic. I had multiple ideas for Tokyo Mew Mew projects, and this one seemed fun to do. It is sort of dark, but not really. And I hope the rating T is high enough. I don't want to make it M. The other projects were more "new Mew" fics. So, please review! I hope you like "Flying Solo".  
Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew and its characters. It belongs to Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida. However, Kumotaka, the town of Moriyama, and all of the Moriyama residents are my own creation. But the mountain is real. And the mountain range.******


	2. A New Identity

Chapter 2- A New Identity

"Are...we there yet?" Mint asked, her words very breathy now. They had been flying for a long time, and she was almost worn out. They even stopped to rest in the park of some random town along the way. But as Mint asked Kumotaka if they were there, they were in the air, and her wing muscles were very, very sore.

"No. I suspect another hour or so will get us there." Mint groaned. The sun was already up, and had been up for awhile. When they arrived at the Shiroyama Bird Laboratories, she really needed a long, hot bath or something. She suspected her flying muscles would be sore for quite a few days to come.

"Argh!"

* * *

Finally, they were there. Mint pretty much collapsed on the ground, panting.

"Maybe you should fly more often, and build up the muscles." Suggested Kumotaka.

Mint glared at him. "No...more...flying...need...bath..."

"Well, Miss Aizawa, you might have to wait for that."

With a little bit of difficulty, due to an abnormal amount of exhaustion from the bird-girl, she turned her head to see a man.

This man was not an extraordinary man, just a normal man in a lab coat. From this, Mint concluded he must be a scientist, probably one working at the lab in the town she landed in or near. He had curly grayish-black hair that fizzled out of his head in a large spherical shape, and his bushy eyebrows mirrored his hairstyle. His eyes were big and brown, and hidden underneath enormous, black, thick-rimmed glasses. He looked in his fifties, and he wasn't really too tall, but taller than Mint was. His hands were big and rough, and they grasped a clipboard stuffed with many papers and a pen. The lab coat he wore was a slightly dulled white, and the many pockets were stuffed with odds and ends found in any laboratory or research center. The slightly oversized two feet he had were concealed under thick black boots caked with mud in some places, and the rims of the boots covered up a little bit of his green-brown pants. Mint couldn't see his shirt, as the lab coat covered whatever he wore underneath it all the way down to just before the boots, but she could assume it was in a similar, drab/unkempt manner.

"Hello, um, who are you?" Mint asked, slowly getting up. Her wings, shoulders, and even every single other muscle in her body was sore from the long flight, and she hoped she would never have to fly a distance like that ever again.

The man smiled and bowed a little, but it wasn't very low, and the girl thought it was probably because of the multitude of objects crammed into his bulging pockets. "I am Doctor Takao Shiroyama, and I am the head of the Shiroyama Bird Laboratories in the town of Moriyama, which you are just outside of right now. The bird Kumotaka told me you would be landing here."

Mint smiled back a little. "Um, you probably know my name already, but I'm Mint Aizawa. And...yeah, that's about it." She didn't want to tell him much about her past, especially of her immediate past.

Doctor Shiroyama nodded. "Do not worry, I know all about the accusation involving you and a certain supermodel. Do not fret, I do not believe them." Mint smiled gratefully, and in part because he had a slightly odd way of talking. "I have come to welcome you to Moriyama. We would be in a great state of honor to invite you to stay in Moriyama, and you would be under an alias."

Kumotaka hopped over to Mint. "An alias other than 'Mew Mint', of course. Is there some name you always liked?"

Mint thought for a moment. If this had been earlier in her lifetime, she would have chosen a name either of or relating to that of one of her idols, but if it was earlier, she wouldn't even have to think of one. "I don't know...I never really thought about it much..." She sort of half-lied. Having the last name "Aizawa" pretty much gave her instant mini-fame, since she was so rich, so she never considered making up a fake name.

Kumotaka tipped his feathered head, his curved beak clucking a little. "What about something foreign? I guess you could always do something stupid sounding, like...I don't know...'Corina Bucksworth'? Nah, that's too ugly..."

Mint raised an eyebrow. "Bucksworth? Are you crazy?"

Doctor Shiroyama chuckled. "I do not think Kumotaka was going to suggest that you take up the name seriously. He was most likely giving an out-of-the-fashion name, possibly to make the mood from dark to lighter?"

Kumotaka rolled his eyes, and ruffled his feathers. "Maybe something a little more usual. 'Aiko' is always pretty..." Mint's eyes twitched. "Or not. You want to avoid 'love' in your name, right?" She nodded, making fists with her hands. "How about..."

"Akiko Kobayashi?" The doctor suggested. Both the hybrids looked at him. "Akiko Kobayashi was the name of a friend that I had in past times. Akiko was a nice friend, an honest friend. Akiko moved to an Okinawa island long time in the past. Nobody would think another Akiko Kobayashi to be unusual. People liked Akiko, so they would like fake Akiko too?"

Mint smiled. "I like that name, it's pretty!" She put her hands on her Mew-clothed hips. "From now on, I will Echo you if you call me Mint Aizawa, 'cause Akiko Kobayashi is my name!" She transformed back into her normal self, then grimaced in the state her dress was in.

The man nodded, even though she hadn't voiced her disgust with her current garb. "I know, fake Akiko who needs to act like real Akiko needs clothes for Akiko to wear. Do not worry-I live next to store that carries uniforms. School uniforms are in the back-I bought a school uniform. If uniform had the unpleasant state of not fitting our Akiko, I would be able to promptly switch it for one that would fit the girl. Yes, is that not a good plan?"

Mint nodded slowly, as it required a little more brainpower to follow what Doctor Shiroyama said sometimes.

"Okay."

* * *

Later, Mint was inside the lab. It was a large, sprawling building bathed in the artificial glow of indoor lighting, and the light enhanced the white color of the walls. She really only saw the hallways of the three-story building, and saw nothing of the second floor, but she noticed that there were many bulletin boards with many papers.

She was lead to a room on the third floor that looked more like a bedroom than a research room. It was still all white, but there was a futon laid out, a small table, a clock on top of that small table, a closet, and a private bathroom for the room. Other than that, it was pretty empty, except for the window. It was a large window, a size somebody could jump out of, and was covered with soft blue curtains. Mint supposed she could fly out of it if needed.

On top of the futon was a neatly folded middle school uniform. Mint, after Doctor Shiroyama pointed it out, unfolded it to take a better look. It wasn't that special or anything, but it would do.

She grabbed it, and went into the bathroom, closing and locking the door. It, like the room, was small and plain, but pretty high-tech. There was a small shower as well, in a half-separate room, and she saw a bath in another part of the third floor of the building, since half of that story was for residents of the labs. Mint pulled off her dress and slipped on the uniform and shoes that went with it, then walked out, the dirty ensemble she had on before in her arms.

There was a mirror, and she walked over to it to see what she looked like. The girl in front of her had a sailor-type uniform that was mainly white, with a w-shaped collar that came down about five-to-six inches in the front, and had a standard box shape in the back that came down a little longer. The collar, like most of the uniform, was white, but there was a light blue stripe running parallel to the edge of the collar. There were similar stripes of the same color running parallel to the edges of the long sleeves and the bottom of the skirt and shirt. The skirt was white as well, and black tights covered the girl's legs. A pretty, yellow, thin, small bow hung a little limp at the top of the upside-down v-shape of the collar. She didn't have the shoes to go with it, but she assumed they would be a standard kind, with her class, grade, and name. Well, Akiko's name, actually. But technically, she was Akiko...

"I think that new Akiko looks very nicely in the new uniform. I think that many people will become friends with new Akiko. Except, I think that new Akiko should not have old Mint's hairstyle." The doctor held out a brush.

Mint nodded, and proceeded to yank out her hair ties, brush her hair, and then re-evaluate herself in front of the mirror. She did look a little different, instead of two buns on her head she had wavy shoulder-length hair.

Kumotaka flapped his grey-blue wings and landed on Mint's left shoulder. "Now 'Akiko', you're ready for school!"

Mint sighed. She now had to go to a public school...in an isolated village...and she had to act like a complete and total commoner.

But hey, Akiko Kobayashi's life in Moriyama was probably going to be a whole lot nicer than Mint Aizawa's life in Tokyo.

* * *

"So, are you excited about school tomorrow?" Kumotaka later asked Mint as she sat on her futon. Her room was still pretty bare, and not much had changed since she had first walked inside of it. The only real difference was that the uniform that was on the futon was now lain out on the ground next to the futon, she had received her shoes and they were sitting on top of a new uniform backpack, inside of that backpack was her gym uniform and her school swimsuit, and her dress she wore previously was stuffed inside a trash can inside the bathroom.

At that current point in time, Mint currently was wearing a blue tank top and matching shorts, and her hair was brushed very nicely. When Doctor Shiroyama went out to get the rest of her school things and register her in the middle school, he also got her something to wear at night. She would go shopping for other sets of clothes later.

Another thing that was added was a perch for Kumotaka. It had been unofficially decided that Kumotaka would hang around Mint like a guardian type figure, so Mint suggested he would share her room. As soon as Doctor Shiroyama heard that, he rushed out of the room and almost instantly returned with a sort of double T-shaped ornament that came to Mint's elbows for the two high rungs, and to her knees with the two lower ones. It was made out of twisted wood, and sort of resembled some kind of ancient, withered tree. So there he sat, staring at Mint on her own (much flatter) "perch".

"Sort of." The girl sighed, flopping back to lie on her futon. It was white, a little taller than she was, had two blankets: a thin white one on bottom, and a fluffy light blue one on top, and a relatively thick pillow with a pillowcase that one side was made of the same fluffy material her blue blanket was made out of, and the other side had one more similar to the other blanket. Mint assumed this was so she could flip it to accommodate the weather any night. The pillowcase was the same light blue as the thicker blanket.

The eagle hopped a little closer to Mint than he already was, peering down at her head from the lower rung, his head moving in short, jerky, and very bird-like movements and his eyes blinking from time to time.

"Why sort of?"

Mint closed her eyes. "Because I'm nervous. The fact that I'm going to a public school for the first time aside, I don't know if my new classmates will recognize me or not. If they do-well, I don't know what they would do, but I do know it would mean that no matter where I would go, somebody would recognize me. I wouldn't be able to just...fade away."

"'Fade away?' What do you mean by 'fade away?'" Kumotaka ventured to ask.

"I want to just start over...and...be a new...person..." The bird clicked his tongue to himself. The girl was tired-she had a long day, what with arriving and getting ready. She was falling asleep before his yellow eyes.

"Good night, Akiko."

"Good night, Kumotaka." And then she was asleep.

The bird bowed his head, before glancing out the window to the night sky. Was Mint going to be safe? He didn't know. But what he did know what sooner or later, they would actually have to deal with the problem instead of hiding or running away from it.

Poor girl.

And then he tucked his head beneath his wing, stopped thinking about it, and soon enough, he joined his new friend in sleep.


	3. Moriyama Chuugakkou

Chapter 3- Moriyama Chuugakkou

"Good morning, everybody!"

"Good morning, teacher!"

Mint shifted her weight from her right foot to her left. This was going to be a long day...

"Alright, today we have a new student. Would you care to introduce yourself?" The teacher asked the new girl. The teacher was a middle-aged man with short black hair, square glasses, and squinty brown eyes. He wore a brown suit, like most of the male faculty, and was pretty tall.

Mint smiled and bowed to her class. "Hello, my name is Akiko Kobayashi. I just moved here from..." Mint glanced around the room, and her eyes fell on a map of Japan. "Miyajima."

"Wow! You lived on Miyajima?" Asked the teacher. Mint would have rolled her eyes. Yeah, Miyajima was a really, really good choice. Just pick some random island off the coast of Hiroshima.

She smiled sheepishly. Time to make up some random stuff! "Yeah, my mother worked at a restaurant, but sent me here to study because she thought I might like the mountains. There's more pollution down there, and she's uh, really worried about trace amounts of radiation from World War Two. I was kind of sick awhile ago, and mountain air is good for the lungs!" Mint was so convinced nobody would believe her.

A pause.

"Wow!"

"You were sick, what did you have? Are you okay?"

"What did your mother sell?"

"Did you ever see any monkeys on Miyajima?"

"How much radiation is left from the bomb? Is it bad?"

"You so need to tell me everything, Akiko!"

"That is so cool!"

"Be my friend, Akiko!"

Mint chuckled nervously, her hands grasping her brown backpack's straps. Man, were these people gullible.

The teacher smiled. "You certainly have an interesting history, Miss Kobayashi. Please sit down next to Miss Nishihara." He pointed to a girl near the back. Next to her was an empty desk. The girl grinned. Mint smiled back weakly. "Ask her any questions you have. My name is Kitahara; I will be your homeroom teacher and your History teacher. Please sit down, Miss Kobayashi." He said, beckoning to the empty chair.

"Yes, Mister Kitahara." Mint walked over to her chair, pulled off her backpack, and smiled at her assigned friend.

"Hi, my name is Saaya Nishihara." She whispered over to Mint. She was dressed in the normal girl's uniform, as all the girls were, and had dark red hair that fell to around the middle of her stomach. There was a yellow ribbon tied around the front, with the bow or knot hidden. Her eyes matched her hair; they were dark red. Saaya didn't look particularly tall, but she did look nice, healthy, and energetic.

"Akiko Kobayashi." Mint stated, sitting down.

"I can show you around, okay? I have nice friends." She smiled, leaning her chin on her hands.

Mint nodded. "Okay, sure."

* * *

_Kin kon kan..._

Mint stared upwards at the clock as the bell for lunchtime rang. Homeroom, science, history, and math had gone by so quickly! She hadn't ever realized it, but her tutor had actually gone _ahead_ of where she should be! The girl never knew she was so smart!

"Akiko! Hey Akiko!" She turned her head as she was packing up her math supplies to see Saaya running up to her with one girl she recognized from her math class and one she hadn't seen before.

"Oh, hi Saaya." Mint said as she straightened up, her backpack on her back.

"Akiko, I need to introduce you to my two best friends! Before you, of course." She pointed to one girl. This girl, a rather short one, had black hair that fell in a straight cut down to just above her shoulders. She had green-brown eyes, and stood up very straight, like she was trying to be on her best behavior. "This is Nanao Hoshiwa."

"Hello, I am very pleased to meet you." Nanao had a small, high-pitched voice, and bowed deeply.

_She's so proper,_ thought Mint as she bowed back.

Saaya pointed to the other girl. This one was taller, and had bluish green hair that was slightly bushy, and tied in one long braid that went all the way down her back. Her eyes were blue, and she looked sort of tough and athletic.

"This is Teruna Furuhashi."

"Hey." Teruna grinned, her hands on her hips.

Mint smiled. _My new friends..._ "It's nice to meet all of you, and I'm Akiko Kobayashi, though you probably already know that. I thought it would be hard to make friends in a new area, but I guess I was wrong."

Saaya giggled. "Yup! Anyway, where do you live?"

"Yeah! We really need to know, Akiko!" Teruna added.

Nanao looked up at Mint shyly. "We don't mean anything bad by it, I hope you aren't offended."

"Uh, I live at the labs, you know, Shiroyama Bird Laboratories?" She pointed in the general direction of the labs. "Like...that way?"

Teruna burst into laughter. "Wow, seriously? That's kind of cool, Akiko."

"You live there?" Mint looked over at Nanao. "Really?"

"Yeah, I have my own room on the third floor." Mint shrugged.

"Cool! I live there too! My mom and dad are both scientists, and my older brother works there too, but he's only part-time in preparation for college." Nanao was pretty much jumping up and down. "I didn't know anybody my age was living there! This is so cool! Now I have somebody to talk to at dinner! And somebody to hang out with! Like at Ramen Night!"

Mint stared at her friend. "'Ramen Night?'" It sounded funny when she said it, and Mint blinked. "What in the world is that?"

"It is much more awesome than it sounds. Saturday nights are Ramen Nights. Everybody has ramen for dinner, and everybody goes and watches a movie or does something cool. It's a pretty big thing at the labs, and tons of residents invite friends over. So Teruna and I go a lot and sleep over with Nanao." Saaya explained.

Teruna smirked. "You go, hang out, eat ramen, and stay up really late. Nanao's parents always yell at us to go to sleep, but it's more tradition than an actual command."

"So now we have a fourth friend to do Ramen Night with!" Nanao giggled.

Saaya turned to her small, shy friend. "You're excited today."

"Hehe, I'm not usually so hyper." Blushed Nanao.

Teruna raised an eyebrow. "Did you have something funny for breakfast today?"

Mint smiled. These three girls seemed to be pretty nice, but she just hoped she could fit in with them.

* * *

Just like the first half of the day, the second half went by pretty quickly. Mint's classes were Japanese literature, English, and physical education. Her favorite seemed to be phys-ed, since they were doing gymnastics. All of her dance training really helped.

"Hey, Akiko!" Mint turned to see Nanao running towards her. Her new friend ran up to Mint, who was at that moment putting things in her new locker, and smiled. "Akiko, do you want to walk home together? All the clubs were cancelled today because of a teacher meeting, but Teruna has a dentist appointment and Saaya has to help clean up the classroom. And since we live in the same place, it might be fun!"

"Sure, one second..." Mint closed her locker, locked it, and made sure her backpack was secure on her back. "Okay, all set!" So the two girls started to leave.

"So, Nanao, what club are you in?" Mint asked, trying to start a conversation. "I heard from Mister Kitahara that all students participate in a club, but I don't know which one to join. Mister Kitahara said to ask my friends what clubs are good, and find out which ones want new members."

Nanao was silent for a moment, thinking. "Well, I'm in the art club, but I'm not sure if we want more people. Teruna's in the tennis club, but I don't think they want new students. But Saaya's club could probably take you!" Nanao smiled weakly. "But I don't know if you'd be able to do it. If you can't you can always join the art club. We're doing a painting project right now, so you could pretty easily come in. After painting, I think we're going to work on quick sketches."

The new girl nodded. "That sounds cool, but what is Saaya's club?"

"Archery."

Mint smirked. "I think I can handle archery."

Nanao stared at her. "Are you sure, Akiko? It's really hard. Once, at the end of the last trimester, we had a club day, where everybody could try different clubs out. Teruna and I tried to shoot arrows, and it was really hard. Not many non-archers could do it."

"I've done some...archery in the past."

"Oh."

A pause.

"Hey, Nanao?"

"Yeah, Akiko?"

"You wanna go shopping after this? I need some clothes."

"Sure!"

* * *

"You want to try archery?" Mint stood still as the Archery Club administrator looked at her. Behind her, she could see Saaya peering at her new friend, clasping her bow tightly.

"Yes."

"You realize it's very tough, and I don't think you'll be able to do it. Do you have a backup club you can join if you can't do this?" The tall, young woman looked rather menacing, dressed in old Japanese clothes, like the other girls. She had dark blue hair, almost black, that was tied in a low ponytail with some hair hanging freely in front. Her eyes were also very dark, but brown instead of blue, and looked almost inhuman.

"Yes, Nanao Hoshiwa said I could probably join Art Club if Archery Club didn't work out." Mint stated. She couldn't help but feel nervous.

The woman stared down at her. "You have a name?"

"Akiko Kobayashi."

"Okay, Kobayashi, here." She handed the bird-girl a bow and three arrows. "If one of those arrows hit's anywhere on that target," She pointed to a target that was sort of far away. It didn't look particularly small, definitely bigger than some of the other ones, but Mint still thought it looked impossible. "Then you're in. If not, I want you out of here, you got that?"

Mint nodded. She held the bow, and picked up one of the arrows, positioning herself in front of a fence that blocked where the archers stood from the shooting-slash-danger range. Trying to remember everything she knew from using her weapon, her Mint Arrow, she strung the first arrow.

"Your line is good." Praised the teacher. Mint would have smiled, but she was trying to concentrate on the target and the target only. "Now concentrate. Aim. Then release."

Mint let go, and a twanging sound reverberated throughout the air.

The arrow landed on the very edge of the target, but then fell off.

"Hm. Maybe. Oh well, try the second arrow. Focus harder, make sure the arrow lines up to where you want it to go." Mint nodded, positive she was shaking.

She strung the second one, and fired.

It missed the target completely.

The teacher scoffed. "If you want to do archery, then you have to learn how to be able to concentrate even when you are nervous. Try one more time. If it misses, run along to Art Club, because I won't want you here."

Mint nodded, and took a deep breath.

She picked up the arrow, and strung it carefully.

_Okay, relax. You can do this. Just pretend it's a kimera anima. Think, 'Ribbon! Mint Echo!'_ Mint thought in her head as she aimed the bow.

_Ribbon!_

Mint took a deep breath, and pulled back on the string.

_Mint!_

Steadying her grip, she prepared to release.

_ECHO!_

Twang!

All of the club members, who had gathered all through Mint's little try-out, gasped.

"Wow!"

"That is amazing!"

"Look's like we'll have to cut that arrow out, that's deep."

"On her third try, she's better than me on my third _year_."

Mint, for the first time since she let the string go on the third arrow, looked at the target. Her arrow was embedded in the very center of the circle, and like one of the girls said, it was deep inside. They probably were going to have to cut it out of there.

The teacher in charge, for the first time, smiled at Mint. "Wow, Kobayashi, I'm impressed. I thought you were some wannabe girl, but you have some serious potential. I'd be happy to put you in our club-that is, if you want to work hard. No more nervousness around here, you got that?"

Mint nodded, grinning.

"Anyway, I'm Ichitori, your Archery Club teacher, and I also teach English. If you had me at all yesterday or today, I had a sub. Anyway, you will come here everyday we have club, and you will get better. If not-"

"I'll go to Art Club. Don't worry, Miss Ichitori, I don't plan on skipping any time soon." She smiled wryly. Ichitori smirked.

"Yeah, fine. Now, we really gotta improve on a steady hand. Get to it!" The teacher flicked her hand towards the targets, and all the girls scampered off to align themselves with one.

Saaya and Mint took two that were next to each other. Saaya grinned, flipping her red hair.

"Wow, Akiko! That was so great! Not many people can shoot a bull's eye on their third try." She said as she tested the string of her bow.

Mint nodded, sizing up her new target. "I guess sort of did some stuff that was similar."

"Kobayashi! Nishihara! No talking!"

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**Hello, I'm here to tell you it does not take me a month to update. Here is the proof. Anyway, this is a kind of slow chapter; I regret to inform you (even though you already know). But things will pick up, if not next chapter, but the following chapter. We will even revisit things in Tokyo! After all, I have to include the actual criminal, don't I? Oh yeah, and for the middle school…I don't know what to name it, so I just gave it the name of the town. Yup. So, please review, and thank you to the people who already have! You're great!**

**Disclaimer:**

**Tokyo Mew Mew does not belong to me. It belongs to Reiko Yoshida, Mia Ikumi, and any other legal owners.**


	4. Settling In

Chapter 4- Settling In

"Teruna, I really don't know if that's your color..." Mint muttered as she stared at the shirt her friend was holding up. "Bright orange kind of clashes with your hair..."

The other girl grumbled. "Yeah, I know. Just, the sleeves are kinda pretty." She held them up with her free hand. They were sort of loose and jeweled, and fluttered around in any spare breeze.

Saaya scoffed. "'Pretty?' Did you seriously just say you wanted something because it was pretty? That sounds just a tad too girly for you." It was true. Teruna, Mint soon found out, dressed in sort of a grungy way. That day at the mall (the town's only mall, and the closest out of town one was a three-hour car ride with no stops), Teruna Furuhashi was wearing baggy brown cargo pants and a dark green, slightly baggy T-shirt. Her blue-green hair was still in a braid, and her general look was kind of scuffed up, what with her clothes ripped up at the edges.

The other two girls, Mint noticed, also dressed how they were in character.

Nanao Hoshiwa, proper and shy, had on a dark blue pleated skirt that hung to her knees, a white T-shirt with a collar made from a light material (with absolutely no creases or wrinkles), and a small red necktie. She also had on white socks folded over her black Mary-Jane type shoes (polished). Her black hair fell straight to her shoulders with no hair out of line, and her green-brown eyes shone brightly and healthy. Nanao also had a black bag with her that bordered on being a briefcase, complete with anything she might need without making it look stuffed or...not businesslike.

Saaya Nishihara, on the other hand, had a more carefree nature, and was dressed accordingly. She had on a fiery orange sleeveless shirt with a picture of a flame in the center, red capris that ended just under her knees, a creamy orange-tinted scarf that, like the sleeves of the shirt Teruna held up, blew in the wind, and some yellow flip-flops. And, of course, her yellow ribbon or hair band, Mint still had to find out.

Mint, or rather, Akiko Kobayashi, still had to create a style for herself. She had gone shopping a little with Nanao initially for some basic supplies and clothes, but she wanted some she could feel like herself, or at least like Akiko, in. In that shop on that day, she was wearing a white pleated skirt, a pale yellow T-shirt, some white socks that reached above her knees, and some orange shoes. Her style was still on the drawing board, but her friends were there to help. So there the four of them were, at the mall, on a day off from school.

"Yeah, but hey, even I can act a little girly now and then." Teruna snapped playfully. "It is possible to take a break from my grunge-street style."

"But, um, it might not be you." Piped up Nanao, her face looking as if Teruna was some big bully she was standing up to. "I think Teruna should look like Teruna, but if it didn't make you look like Teruna, then, you wouldn't look like Teruna?" Nanao stopped and thought for a second. "Did that make sense? My apologies if it didn't..." She trailed off, and swung her bag around a little while looking down at it.

Saaya laughed. "Sort of. But Akiko's right, Teruna, if it's not your color, it won't do anything for you."

Mint thought for a moment. The store they were in at the moment, called "Happy Sale Clothes" did generally have their products in other colors than the ones on the main racks. But you did have to dig through the racks behind those...and it really was a jungle in there.

She turned her head to look at her friends, her loose blue-black wavy hair twirling around prettily. "I'm going in. Hopefully, I'll be back soon."

And she "dove" in. Pushing clothes out of her way, she actually lost sight of the other girls for a few seconds as she looked through the mass amounts of clothes, which also happened to be pretty cheap.

Mint supposed the stores figured that if you weren't going to pay a lot, you at least should have to dig around to find what you wanted.

But eventually, she found a replica of the shirt Teruna held, but in a misty blue. _Good, that won't clash badly with her hair._ She thought as she grabbed it, and fought her way out of the think forest of shirts, jackets, dresses, and any other articles of clothing wore above the waist.

She popped out of the racks, holding up the shirt like a lifetime achievement award. "This would work better, I think." Mint was actually breathing a little heavier than normal after fighting her way out of there.

It was really kind of sad. In the lame sense, not the literal sense.

"Yeah! Go try it on!" Saaya all but shoved Teruna into a dressing room, from which the shoved girl all but punched her for. But, laughing, she walked into the room with the shirt.

She emerged later, with the blue-green shirt on. The loose sleeves hung over her arms like a sort of mist, and the rest of the shirt was a little tighter. It had a v-neck, with a margin of beads around it, and the shirt wasn't all one color, but a bunch of similar colors in a sort of tie-dye like pattern.

"I think it looks awesome!" Mint exclaimed, and murmurs of agreement were heard from the other two.

"Yup! I think I'll buy it. Thanks, Akiko!" Teruna said as she walked back into the dressing room to change back into her original shirt.

Mint smiled to herself. Life almost felt normal.

Or rather, she could easily get used to this life, and...

Pretty much forget about Tokyo.

* * *

"Hey, Mint?" Mint looked up from doing her homework. There she was, barely into her school, and she was pretty much swamped with the stuff. Kumotaka was sitting on his perch as she was sitting on her futon.

"Uh huh? What?"

"You...would you like to go flying with me? There's a place I want to show you. I, uh, well, I like it, and generally it is a place visited often by many species, particularly winged ones. For example, birds visit it often when on their migratory travel, or they stay there with that place as their permanent habitat. Since a rather significant percentage of your DNA is of a bird, an ultramarine lorikeet, to be exact, I hypothesized you would enjoy that spot as well." He stated, his beady eyes blinking.

The bird-girl's eyes, however, were slightly glazed over from overexposure to math homework. "Yeah, sure, uh huh. I could take a break, yeah, sure. Of course," she began, regaining her character from her homework glaze. "Being part of my elite family, at least for part of my life, will prepare me for anything. Even taking a trivial break would not make my grades drop." She stood up.

"Let's go! I can transform in the forest down there." She pointed to a group of trees within a short walking distance from the lab. "Then we'll fly from there?"

Kumotaka nodded, his blue wings twitching in a very bird-like manner. "That sounds good."

* * *

"Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!" Mint yelled as soon as they were concealed from the sight of any innocent bystander (or a guilty bystander, either was bad). After her clothes changed and her wings and tail appeared, she hopped up and hovered a couple of feet above the ground. "Ready to go?"

Pretty soon, both birds were above the treetops, flying fast. Mint flapped her wings hard to keep up with her friend, but luckily for her, he knew this, and didn't fly too fast.

_Man, I'm so sore even now! Grrr... Maybe I should work out more often..._ Mint growled mentally.

Kumotaka veered right a little, and took them to a spot near the peak of a mountain. The town of Moriyama looked really tiny, and a nice cool breeze was blowing as they touched down.

The peak was a nice mixture of trees and rocks, with an excellent view. There was even a sound of a stream going down the side of the mountain. You could just as easily hide in scattered groves of trees, or sit on a rock with nothing over you and look out at the Japanese Alps. Mint sighed happily as she chose a nice flat rock to sit on that had a view of the town and miles of its surroundings, and looked over at Kumotaka, who was sitting on a tree branch not too far from her head. Past him, she could see bird nests and the birds that lived their hopping around and flitting about.

"Humans rarely come up here. It is like a sanctuary for us." The eagle said, half to himself. Mint nodded. You could just relax, and it felt like nothing mattered.

Mint sighed happily, stretching her arms and her wings. She never wanted to leave.

* * *

"Ichigo?" Masaya asked. The two of them were on a date, and had stopped to rest at a park. At that moment, they were sitting on a bench in front of a big fountain, and among many trees.

It also happened to be the place she last saw Mint. Or at least, she was pretty sure Mint was there. They were looking for her, and when they reached this spot in the park, where they were almost positive she had ran to, it seemed as if a large bird had taken off.

And Ichigo was almost positive she saw Mew Mint zipping high above her in the sky.

But then she was gone.

The next day, nobody knew where Mint Aizawa was. It was scary.

Ichigo could not stop worrying. It didn't seem good. She really didn't think Mint had done the crime, but running away didn't make her seem like she was very innocent. The press was pretty much divided, some saying it proved she was guilty, and some saying that she was an afraid, confused eleven-year-old kid who could only think to run away. But nobody was convinced she was completely innocent.

Ichigo smiled sadly at her boyfriend. "I'm okay...really..."

He studied her face for a while, and then nodded. "You're worried about Mint, right?" She nodded slowly, looking down at her school uniform. Normally, she'd be happy for school to be out for the week and the chance to be with Masaya after school, but how could she enjoy a date when one of her best friends was missing? "I'm sure that she's okay." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and hugged her.

"But how do you know? She could be hurt."

"Because she's a Mew Mew. Mint was the one who took out the huge moth thing on the Tokyo Tower, right?" Ichigo nodded. "She didn't get hurt then, so I think she'll be fine now. Besides, she's a bird, and birds fly. It would have been pretty easy for her to escape without people noticing. If she flew somewhere during the nighttime, it would be hard for people to see her. Plus, she doesn't seem stupid. She could have created an alternate identity for herself, and could be living peacefully in a town somewhere where she isn't known."

Ichigo closed her eyes, and leaned against Masaya's shoulder. His words were comforting, and calmed her down a little (any time he talked she felt better). But she was still worried, because to her, Mint didn't seem guilty. Why should she have to run away from something she didn't do? Why did nobody seem to believe her? And what if...what if she did do it?

No. _I know Mint didn't do it. She's my friend. She wouldn't have done it._ Ichigo thought. _But I really hope she's okay._

"I hope you're right, Masaya, I really hope you're right."

* * *

The figure swore. They couldn't believe it. "Where are you, Aizawa?"

How could they have lost her! She couldn't have gone far...

But it had been five days since she disappeared. She could have taken a plane somewhere out of the country by then.

The figure's eyes narrowed. _That's okay,_ they thought. _I'm going to find you, Aizawa. And when I do, it won't be pretty._

And their fingers started furiously typing into a computer keyboard as an evil grin spread across their face.

* * *

Author's Note:

Sorry this chapter is so late, everybody. My computer broke a month ago, but I didn't get around to getting it fixed until a week or two ago. Then I went on vacation, and then I had to wait for it to come back. I really can't write anywhere else.

And thanks for the reviews, everybody! I wasn't going to revisit Tokyo until later, but since it was mentioned more than once, I decided to put some Ichigo in it. This chapter was pretty slow, since I wanted Mint to settle down, and I wanted to work with her three friends. I'm pretty sure I want to use them a lot, since I like them. Saaya's my favorite to write about.

So, please review, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter of Flying Solo.

Disclaimer:

I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew, as it is owned my Mia Ikumi and Reiko Yoshida (and any other respective legal owners not listed here). The town of Moriyama is purely fictional, and it and all of its inhabitants (minus Mint) belong to me.


	5. Echo

Chapter 5- Echo

"Have you found her yet?"

"I have not, I am sorry."

"Same here. Man, this kid's tough to track down!"

"Eh, she's outta sight, boss. Nothin'."

"..."

"Well? Report!"

"Maybe."

* * *

"Tonight's what?" Mint asked Kumotaka as she grabbed some breakfast in the dining room of the laboratory.

"Ramen Night." He responded. She was wearing her school uniform, but strapped on top of her shoulder was a large leather pad, where Kumotaka was perched. Doctor Shiroyama had gotten a blue one in her size, having told her (from first-hand experience) "the claws belonging to a hawk like the one named Kumotaka are not pleasant when they are being embedded into a shoulder of a human who could be me". The only problem was that Mint's hair, generally unbound, would get in his way. However, Mint found that any hairstyle, especially two buns, reminded her too much of a past that she wanted to forget.

"Wait, I remember Nanao talking about this...um..." She screwed up her face, trying to remember what her friend said. She grabbed some pancakes, syrup, and milk, and sat down at the edge of one of the five large tables among a few other chatting residents. Kumotaka hopped off her shoulder, and stood on the other side of her tray. Mint cut up the pancakes, doused them with syrup, and held out a bite-sized piece for her friend on a fork. He ripped off a tiny piece, and ate it, trying to chew with his beak. Mint just grabbed a set of chopsticks, as there weren't many forks, and ate another piece more easily.

After Kumotaka was done eating that bite, he looked at her with his beady yellow eyes. "It is a long-standing tradition of the laboratory to have, on Saturday nights, a party in one of the main rooms. There's a movie, on a large screen, and it is a nice excuse to stay up late. The residents invite people over, and it's a pretty large turnout. You said your friend, Miss Hoshiwa, lives here as well?"

"Yeah," Mint started, gulping down some milk. "But she's not here this morning because she has a dentist appointment before we go study. She lives on the other side of the third floor."

"Yes. I see. Then Miss Hoshiwa would invite her other two friends over as well, correct? Ah, there names...Miss Furuhashi and Miss Nishihara?"

"Uh huh. Teruna and Saaya. You know, you should really meet them sometime. Even the residents barely know you exist." The girl stated as the two kept eating their breakfast.

The harpy eagle did an equivalent of a bird shrug-a small flap of his wings. "Doctor Shiroyama and I don't want to make it too public. Other people from cities may find out, and I rather prefer a quiet life in the mountains." He stated before eating another shred of pancake.

Mint nodded. She could relate to that. Even though she had only been in the town for about a week, she still felt a lot calmer and happier than she had in Tokyo. There was something about the cool, crisp air, the lovely scenery, and the quiet of the mountain town that made it special.

Not to say that she didn't miss Tokyo. Mostly, she missed her dog, Mickey. He was such a good dog, and fun to play with. Mickey also kept her company when she was lonely, what with her brother and parents always being away with one thing or another. Also, he didn't care that everybody thought she was a criminal-he loved his Mint.

As for the people...well, she did miss them a little. Even if people think of you as scum, Mint still remembered the times before Zakuro had...her little accident. The Mew Mews were all really close friends, Ryou and Keiichiro included, and she loved her family. Whenever she thought back to Tokyo, she liked to remember the good times.

Like the time, when she was depressed about Zakuro not wanting to become a Mew Mew and insulting her, the other three Mews came over just see if she was okay. They had so much fun, even though they broke the fire sprinklers and ripped her mother's cushions, and it was hard not to stop laughing.

Or the time, when she was really little, her mother took a day off from her busy schedule, just to spend time with her daughter. Mint and her mother went all around Tokyo, just the two of them, doing whatever they wanted.

Or the time when her parents and brother brought Mickey home for her.

Or the time when she found the first Mew Aqua.

Or the time...

"Akiko!" Mint shook her head to look at Kumotaka. He clicked his beak, and glared at her. "Please refrain from daydreaming long enough to be late for school!"

"What? Oh no, I have to hurry!" Mint yanked her tray off the table, and ran between the long tables into the kitchen, where she slid the tray into the racks where the cooks would find and clean them.

After that, she ran back to the table, grabbed her back, and said a hurried good-bye to the waiting bird.

And then was out the door, running in the direction of the middle school.

Kumotaka chuckled, and looked to the man next to him. Doctor Shiroyama gave a lopsided grin.

"From the way the girl who is thought to be Akiko, she is seeming to adjust to the life of the town of Moriyama. Does the bird Kumotaka agree with the statement spoken of?" He asked between bites of his own pancake.

"Yes. I believe she is." Then he looked down. "You know, I never finished my pancake.

He screeched softly, causing a resident to look over. She smiled at the doctor and the bird, and walked past them to put her tray away.

"Is he an experiment? I could have sworn I heard him talk." She inquired as she walked past the two.

"Doctor Hoshiwa is in the blissful state of being correct at this present moment."

The woman smiled, her long jet-black hair bouncing around and her deep blue eyes sparkling on her slightly child-like face. Like her daughter, it fell straight, but all the way to her waist. Every other part of her was a typical laboratory doctor's garb- a pure white lab coat over some khakis and a white shirt.

"Good luck with him then. He looks healthy now." She bowed a little, and continued to the kitchen to deposit her tray.

Kumotaka blinked. "Doctor Hoshiwa? Her daughter is Nanao Hoshiwa, right? Well, I suppose I will see more of her in the future." Doctor Shiroyama just nodded.

Inside the kitchen, Doctor Hoshiwa sighed. She looked to one of the cooks, and glared at them.

"Yes, he's here. But you'd better be telling the truth when you say you won't hurt him, or the girl he's with."

The cook, whose eyes were obscured by some dark glasses, just smiled. Rather coldly.

* * *

"Good afternoon, class!" Ichitori snapped.

"Good afternoon, Miss Ichitori!" The class sang back as they all settled in for their last period of the day- English.

After the basic greetings were said in the foreign language, Mint opened her notebook to take notes as her teacher started her lecture. She was halfway through writing down proper declinations for awkward situations, when she felt a small piece of paper hit her foot. Making sure Ichitori was not staring directly at her, she quickly snatched up the wadded up note, slightly unsure of what to do in a situation like this- she had never been to a public school before, and none of the girls at her old private school back in Tokyo ever passed her notes.

Mint opened up the small scrap of paper inside her notebook. She made sure the sheet of lined paper that her English notes were on was always on top of the note, so she could easily switch back to (appearing like she was) taking notes if the teacher looked over. As soon as she saw Ichitori turn her back on the class to write an English sentence on the board, Mint examined the note.

_Akiko-_

_Meet us at the fountain after school, okay? Don't go directly to Archery Club. We need to set up our plans for Ramen Night!_

_-Saaya_

"What have we here?" Mint cringed at the harsh voice, and looked up. Ichitori was looking down at her, and her deep brown eyes seemed to pierce a hole right through the girl they were glaring so hard. "Passing notes, hmm, Kobayashi?"

In one quick fluid motion, Mint scratched out Saaya's name, and Ichitori at least appeared not to see it.

"Well, then, I suppose detention is in order. After Archery Club, come here, and we'll decide how long you'll stay." With that, the teacher walked up to the front of the classroom as if nothing had happened, and regained her place in her explanation of how to be polite in English.

Mint's eyes stung as if she was going to start crying. She had never been so embarrassed in her entire life! The girl felt as if all the eyes of every single student were on her, and she could almost hear them whispering about the new girl getting detention.

She didn't even bother paying attention to the rest of the class. All she thought about was how it wasn't her fault, and that had they known who she was, they never would have given her a detention! A detention for an Aizawa? Impossible!

Mint just sank lower in her chair, and stared down at her notebook.

* * *

"I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry, Akiko!" Saaya whined. "I really didn't mean to get you a detention! I feel so bad..."

Mint sighed. "It's okay. Hey, at least I live alone, so, uh, my parents won't hear about it!"

Teruna scoffed. "Yeah, but detention for passing notes? Seems a little harsh. Most of the time they just make you read it in front of the class. Maybe this Ichitori has it in for you, or something."

Nanao bit her lip. "But it was very nice of you to scratch out Saaya's name so she wouldn't get in trouble too, Akiko."

Saaya gasped. "You seriously did that?" Mint nodded. "AAAAAAH! Now I'm going to feel so guilty! It's all my fault! You should have let me suffer in detention for the rest of my life and-owwwwww!" Teruna had just pulled (hard) on Saaya's red hair. "Thanks, Teruna, I needed that..."

"Um, everybody?" Nanao started as she looked at her watch. "We need to get to our clubs. They start in ten minutes."

"Yeah, and I'd better not be late. I don't want Miss Ichitori to suspend me or something." Mint grumbled.

"Eeeek! No! Akiko! We need to hurry! I don't want you to get suspended!" And with that, Saaya had grabbed her friend's wrist, and dashed off with almost super-human speed towards the locker rooms, leaving Teruna and Nanao far behind with slightly surprised faces.

"Sometimes, I wish I could run like that." Teruna mumbled.

* * *

Twang! Twang! Twang!

Mint glared ahead at her target, before shooting another arrow off at it. Twang! Another was lined up. Twang! She grabbed another. Twang! One more...twang!

"Akiko, you need to calm down! We don't want to cut any more arrows out of our targets!" A girl named Sanae hissed over to the bird-girl. Sanae was one year older than Mint, and had light blue hair that was styled in ringlets, and pink eyes. She was one of the top archers, and generally hung around Mint to give the new girl advice.

Mint, for the first time, noticed her target. All of her arrows had hit, and most were in the center. She sighed. _Sometimes, I wish I wasn't so amazingly good at this._ She thought to herself.

* * *

"I'm here, Miss Ichitori." Mint spat as she entered the English classroom for the second time that day. She had wanted to take a long shower and a long time to change back into her school uniform, but Saaya had warned her (multiple times) that the teacher might grow even angrier with her if she did that.

"Sit down, Kobayashi." Mint slumped into the desk in the center of the front row- right in front of the teacher and her desk. "And no attitude, got that?"

"Yes, Miss Ichitori." She said with a little less annoyance. The sooner this was over, the better. Her other teachers, especially her math teacher, had piled on the homework for the weekend, and she really wanted to start on it. Also, there was Ramen Night, and Mint really wanted to spend it with Kumotaka, Saaya, Teruna, and Nanao, not with a strict English teacher.

"Now then, since you took time away from today's class, I want you to translate these sentences from English to Japanese." She handed a sheet of paper to Mint. "When you finished, give them to me. After they are all perfect, you might be able to leave."

Mint took out a pink mechanical pencil as she took a look at the sheet. Her eyes swam as she tried to make sense of the sentences. "Uh, Miss Ichitori, I have no idea what these sentences say! They look at least one year ahead of where I am!" She exclaimed, starting to panic a little. She'd be there forever!

"No talking back! That's ten extra minutes after they're perfect!" The teacher snapped, her brown eyes once again seeming to glare into Mint.

"Sorry, Miss Ichitori. But, uh, would it be okay if I used a dictionary? I don't understand a lot of these words."

"No external sources! That's another ten!"

"Sorry, Miss Ichitori." Mint felt like she was going to cry. Nobody had ever been this mean to her in Tokyo! She really was going to be there forever! She'd miss Ramen Night! Kumotaka would-

Tap, tap.

Mint glanced up from her paper, which currently had no pencil marks on it other than her name. She had sworn she had heard a sound...

The girl looked to her teacher, who was focused on grading papers. Ichitori hadn't heard anything...so it was probably nothing...

Mint looked back down at her paper, and tried to focus on understanding the first sentence.

Tap, tap!

She jerked her head up violently. The sound was louder, and she heard it coming from the door. Making sure the teacher was still focused on grading papers, she craned her neck to the left to get a better look at the door. It was open, and she could see part of the hallway...and a small beak looking in at her.

_It's Kumotaka!_ Mint thought to herself. _What is he doing here?_ She took another look at him, and saw his talons. They were a little red... _Is he bleeding? I need to get out there! What's going on?_

"Uh, Miss Ichitori?" She asked, starting to get up. She had to think of an excuse to get into the hallway.

The teacher glanced up with an icy brown glare. "What is it now, Kobayashi?"

Mint couldn't think of anything to say, so she said the worst possible thing anybody could say to a seventh grade English teacher.

"I need to go to the bathroom."

The teacher raised one blue-back eyebrow. "If this is just to take time away from detention, it's not going to work. You're just going to spend that much time more back here. And if you even think about ditching, then you'll get double detention."

"I won't. I really need to go."

"Fine, go ahead, but I'm timing you." Mint nodded before dashing out of the room.

Once she was in the hall, she grabbed Kumotaka, and ducked into an empty classroom so the teacher wouldn't hear her.

"Kumotaka! What happened?" There was a cut on his right leg, and his feathers were ruffled.

"A kirema anima! There is one here! Somewhere in the school!" The bird said, a little breathless.

"What? Where is it?"

"I do not know. I saw it outside the school, and I flew in to warn you, but it followed me. It was of...I think it was of a rat, but I was not sure. But it had claws, and I was cut a little by it." He held out his leg. The cut, though not life threatening or serious, was still bleeding. Mint whipped out her handkerchief, and bandaged it as well as she could.

"Go back to the labs now, so it can be treated for real." She ordered him, but the bird just glared at her.

"No. I'm staying with you."

Mint was a little taken aback, but smiled. "Fine, but don't blame me if that gets infected. Now, where is that kirema anima?"

Kumotaka was about to answer, but then a rumbling was heard from up the stairs.

"Never mind. Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!" Her body was enveloped in light as she morphed into her Mew Mew form. "Mint Arrow!" More light shone around her hands, and her weapon appeared, with the bow like her wings and a heart-shaped arrow. Mint's right hand closed around the weapon, the arrow balancing above her middle finger as her first finger was held out to aim it. "Let's go!"

Her blue wings lifted her off the ground, and she flew down the hallway towards the stairs, Kumotaka right beside her. They sped up above the stairs, and came face to face with a gigantic, black rat with large claws.

It snarled as Mint aimed her Mint Arrow. "For endangering my school, even after hours, I will make you pay!" She smiled, holding out her left arm for Kumotaka to pose with her. "Ribbon! Mint Echo!" A blue line of energy shot towards the rat, knocking it back.

She flew over to it. "Did it work-oof!" Apparently, it didn't quite to the trick, as the rat immediately tackled her, knocking her down the stairs. Mint was able to throw it off her before she hit the floor below, but she still was bruised in more than one place. "Ow..."

Kumotaka flew down to her. "Are you okay, Mint?"

"Yeah, I think so-watch out!" The rat swiped at both of them with its claws, but Mint and Kumotaka both flew out of the way right before they were hit. Unfortunately, the claws hit the wall instead, and took out some plaster. Mint stared at the hole in the wall, which looked into a girl's bathroom. "Ew! Pervert!"

"For exposing the insides of a girl's bathroom, I will not hold back!" Mint cried, then blinked. "Did I just say that? That sounded lame...oh well! Ribbon! Mi-"

"What is going on out there, Kobayashi?" Mint stopped when she heard Ichitori's voice coming from the English classroom.

The rat also heard it, and started to lose interest in Mint. It bounded down the hall towards the classroom, just as Ichitori was coming out.

"No! Miss Ichitori, watch out! Kumotaka, distract that rat!" The Harpy eagle flew into action, pecking and scraping at the rat with its claws and beak as Mint flew in front of the rat, grabbing her teacher. She put down Ichitori far away from the rat before flying back over to the kirema anima. "Kumotaka, get out of the way! RIBBON! MINT ECHO!" Her voice shrieked as her weapon let out a huge blast of energy at the kirema anima.

The rat was swallowed in blue light, before it and the alien separated. The rat squeaked, and dashed off down the hall, while the alien just floated there, almost as if it was unsure of what it should do. Mint glanced into a nearby classroom, a science classroom, and grabbed a large jar with a holed lid. Unscrewing it with her blue-gloved hands, she flew at the alien before trapping it inside the glass jar and screwing the lid back on.

Once that was done, she sighed, slumping against the wall, still as Mew Mint.

"A...Mew Mew?" She opened one blue eye to look at her teacher, who was staring down at her. "A Mew Mew! Wow! This is so cool!" Mint stared wide-eyed at her teacher's smiling face, and her hand that she was holding out to help the girl up. Mint smiled weakly, and took the hand, standing up. "What is a Mew Mew doing in Moriyama?" Ichitori almost sounded...like a little girl finally meeting a celebrity idol.

"Uh, Miss Ichitori? You don't recognize me?" Mint asked, a little stunned.

"Of course I do! You're...Mew Mint, right?"

"No...I'm...ah, whatever, look!" She transformed back into her human self, blue w-styled collar sailor uniform and all. "See? I'm Akiko Kobayashi!"

Ichitori stared for a moment. Then she smiled. "So, you're Mew Mint, huh? Then why'd you say you were from Miyajima? That's a long way away from Tokyo. Then again..." She leaned in to examine her student's face. "You look like somebody I saw in the newspaper...from Tokyo...whose name was Mint..."

"Eek! Miss Ichitori, people know about that?"

Ichitori laughed. "So you _are_ Mint Aizawa! I can't believe it! What a coincidence. And Mew Mint...no wonder you're such a good archer."

Mint blinked. "Wait...why are you so okay with this? People think I'm a criminal! Even though I'd _never_ do anything like what they think I did."

"Because, of course, you're one of my best archers. Plus," Ichitori, adjusted her low ponytail. "I don't believe everything the media says."

"Hey, Miss Ichitori? Can you keep this a secret? I don't want people finding out that I'm Mint Aizawa, much less Mew Mint." Mint almost pleaded.

"Of course I can! If I lose you, I can kiss ever winning an archery competition good-bye."

"Thank you Miss Ichitori!" Mint exclaimed, hugging her teacher. Ichitori smiled, patting her student's head.

"You can trust me with anything."

Meanwhile, Kumotaka had already left the building, flying back to the labs. His cut was starting to hurt, and the handkerchief-turned-bandage was already stained red.

_Why did she openly trust her teacher like that? She should have just evacuated the building once the teacher saw her in her Mew form._ He thought as he cut into the wind. _Plus..._

_What was a kirema anima doing in a remote location such as Moriyama?_

_Somebody knew Mint was here._

* * *

**Author's Note: **Wow! This took a long time to write! I had to go away for three weeks, and I couldn't write at all during that time, so sorry this took so long to get out! But I thought a lot about this story, and during that time, I pretty much know exactly where it's going, everything I need to know about the characters, and what's going to happen in each chapter. I'm not sure how long it's going to be, though. The plot is pretty much just beginning to thicken, so we've still got a ways to go! Please review! As one writer once said (I forget who, but it was somebody who wrote Teen Titans fics) "if you have time to read, you have time to review!"

Anyway, I decided to do what a lot of people do…actually respond to my reviewers (for Chapter 4)!

Thorn Willowfly: Yes! I did update! And I'm sorry you hate Ichigo. But she is an important character, being the leaders of the Mew Mews and one of Mint's good friends, so you might have to tolerate seeing more of her…but thanks for reviewing!

Quicksilver Foxx: Thank you! It's nice to hear that people like this fic, and that they think it's original! Thanks for reviewing!

Daisuke-fan-gurl: Thank you, and sorry if you had to wait too long for this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!

Pikachu: I felt like I had to put Tokyo in there earlier than I was going to because people wanted it. The Ichigo/Masaya date thing was a spur-of-the-moment-thing-to-please-the-readers-and-because-I-felt-like-it kind of thing. As for Mint going back there…I'd tell you, but I wouldn't want to give away the story! And, once again, I'm so sorry this is so late…but thanks for reviewing!

vi: Wow! A new reviewer! I'm sorry this isn't exactly a "soon" update, but I hope the next one is. Thanks for reviewing!

**Disclaimer:** Tokyo Mew Mew does not belong to me. It belongs to Mia Ikumi, Reiko Yoshida and any other respective owners.


	6. Three Stones

Chapter 6- Three Stones

A blink. And a gasp was heard.

She blinked a few more times to try and sharpen her eyesight...there! The world around her was sharp again.

"ZAKURO! OHMYGOSHYOU'REAWAKE!"

_What the...?_ The teenager thought as she looked to the sound of the girl's voice she had heard. To the right of her bed, a ginger haired ten-year-old was almost jumping up and down.

"Zakurozakurozakuro!" She squealed, her short hair bouncing around her trademark bow.

"Ri...Rin...Ringo?" Zakuro whispered. The penguin-girl enthusiastically nodded, her bow almost coming off with the force created by her head going up and down.

"Yes! Zakuro, do you KNOW how long you've been asleep?" Ringo asked, her smile fading slightly.

The teenager tried to think, and only accomplished a acquiring a headache. "No, sorry...how-how long have I been asleep, Ringo?"

"One week and one day."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, when the paramedics found you unconscious, they said you looked like you were suffering from shock as well as, uh, you know, what happened," Ringo blushed a little. "So they said that you would be under for awhile. After the first couple of days, they said that one person could be in here with you. We wanted to make sure that somebody was here when you woke up." She nodded again, her red ribbon finally coming loose.

The ten-year-old groaned, and tugged on one end of it, causing it to lash out into the air.

Like a whip...

"Ow!" Zakuro grimaced as a sharp pain shot through her head.

"OHMYGOSH! Are you okay, Zakuro?" The younger girl jumped out of her seat, losing her grip on her hair ribbon. It slithered through the air to rest on the floor.

Like a snake...

Zakuro cried out again as her headache grew worse.

"Zakuro? Zakuro! I'm going to go get a doctor, okay? Oh no, what am I going to do? Hey! Hey!" Ringo cried as she ran out the door, looking for one of the doctors working there.

The wolf-girl took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm herself down, and think clearly. Whenever she was in combat, she was always able to think clearly, no matter what the situation was.

Then...then how did she get in the hospital?

Zakuro looked down at the floor next to her bed. Ringo's hair ribbon had just been left sitting there, forgotten. Zakuro wasn't sure that she had ever seen Ringo without a hair ribbon of some sort, be it a huge bow or a smaller, limper one.

The ribbon was red.

Red was the color of blood.

"Wan!" Zakuro barked. She blinked. Why had she said that?

Why had she just barked...like a dog? Or rather, like a wolf?

She shook her head, and stretched out one hand to pick up Ringo's hair ribbon.

_Okay, now then, I need to think. When the ribbon appeared like a whip, when it reminded me of a snake, and when I noticed the color was red, something weird happened. A whip could be like my weapon, if I'm in the hospital, red blood isn't too out there, but why a snake?_

"Miss Fujiwara?" A tall, thin, athletic-looking young man with long, shaggy brown hair that reached his shoulders and crystal blue eyes wearing a lab coat entered her room, followed by Ringo. Zakuro's ears picked up two other voices waiting outside her room. The two people she had heard then walked in, and she identified them as Lettuce and Keiichiro.

"Yes." She stated as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Almost immediately, she felt a few things. One was another pain shooting itself through her brain. One another was a tug of an IV line in her arm. One another was a huge pain in another part of her body. A lower part of her body- her lower torso.

And then she realized something. She realized that she had been-

"I was..."

Her purple eyes widened, and her breathing rapidly increased as her eyesight blurred and swam.

_I can't think...I feel lightheaded..._

"Make sure she stays conscious! Miss Fujiwara, calm down!"

She felt some hands hold her, feel her forehead, and she heard voices speaking to her.

But all she listened to were the voices in her memory.

_"No! Stop it! Don't hurt her!"_

_"Get away!"_

_"AAAAAAAH!"_

_"ZAKURO! No! Stop it, you're hurting her!"_

_"Wha-what are you-wait-oh no, Zakuro, are you okay?"_

_"Miss, you'd better come with us."_

_"No! I didn't do anything!"_

_"Miss! Wake up!"_

_"Get me paramedics!"_

_"NO! I HAVE TO MAKE SURE SHE'S OKAY!"_

_"Zakuro!"_

_"Zakuro!"_

_"Zakuro!"_

"ZAKURO!"

She shook her head a little, and turned it to look at Keiichiro. Zakuro blinked a few times.

"Keiichiro...?"

"Yes, Zakuro, you were panicking. Are you okay, now?" He asked, his calm voice bringing her out of her trance further. His soft brown eyes and smile made her heart beat at a more normal pace, and she wanted to smile back at him.

Lettuce was on the other side of her bed, her arms holding the older Mew Mew up. "Zakuro! Everything's okay now."

Ringo and the doctor were right behind Lettuce, the man fiercely scribbling notes onto a clipboard and muttering his written words aloud softly.

"What...what happened to me?" The hospital-bedridden older girl asked softly, straightening up in her friend's arms.

Keiichiro and the doctor exchanged glances before explaining Zakuro's night one week and one day earlier.

And her purple eyes tried not to show any emotion. She was not the kind of person to turn all weepy when she learned that her life had been destroyed, and one of her best friends was blamed for it.

But she couldn't hold it in.

Although she held the same poise she had when she was posing for a magazine for evening gowns, the wolf-girl couldn't hold in the tears.

* * *

Mint groaned. Another one? All of a sudden, they had really started popping up, and she was getting _really annoyed._

"Again? Grrr! Fine!" She stood up from her futon in her room, where she had been doing her math homework (honestly!) and looked over to Kumotaka. "You want to come, too?"

He shook his head._ Of course, if she thinks that I am not lying, Mint will be surprised...if she catches me. I will not let anything happen to her._

She shrugged, her dark, wavy hair blowing around slightly as she prepared to transform.

"Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!"

As her pale yellow shirt and light blue jeans (Mint herself was surprised at her buying of these commoner clothes, but she supposed Akiko wouldn't be above the wearing of those pants) disappeared, her blue dress, shoes, gloves, wings, and tail appeared, and her hair went back into it's normal hairstyle of two high buns.

She smiled, poking one of them. Mint missed that hairstyle...having hair down _all the time_ was not very fun.

"Well, I'm off!" The bird-girl chirped before jumping out the window and flying east, into the direction where she had heard the roar (or rather, loud squawk) of an alien-induced pigeon.

Kumotaka ruffled his blue neck feathers, his beady yellow eyes following her. "Yes, yes, go fly off, Mew Mint. You do not seem to notice that anything is wrong with this." He hissed. Then blinked. "Of course, I do not know if anything is wrong with this." He shook his head. "No! I must go after her to protect her! I will not like it if Mint is hurt in battle!"

And then, with the sound of beating wings and feathers slicing through air, he followed her out the window.

Another figure, walking out of the lab, spied the bird flying out of the window.

He grinned, pointed teeth showing.

"Boss, th' bird left. Should somebody go after the thing?" He asked, a gravely voice speaking into a watch on his hand that was whipped out of a trench coat pocket.

"Somebody already is. Number Three! Report!"

"I am below the site. The animal is here as well. The parasite alien has been induced."

"Excellent job, Number Three. Number Two!"

"Yeah? Wha'd'ya wan' me to do?"

"Stay at the lab. A certain doctor still hasn't sent her payments for the week. Tell her that her daughter and the Mew Mew will not survive the walk home from school tomorrow if she doesn't give it to us."

"I gotcha. Will do."

"Excellent. Now all we need is that dog..."

* * *

"Okay, kirema anima that to me looks like a gigantic, slightly overweight pigeon!" Mint stuttered as she scanned the current monster over. It was pretty ugly, even for an alien-infused city bird, with a pudgy grey-feathered body and a large green-brown beak. It also had overly large, milky yellow eyes that jerked around as it looked around its own surroundings. And its feet were rough, orange, webbed, and sprawling, probably just to make up for its weight, which Mint supposed was a lot.

Luckily for her, the bird had chosen to show up on the outskirts of the town of Moriyama, which meant fewer onlookers for her. The girl didn't mind people like Ichitori, who promised to keep her secret to themselves, but if it got out of hand, Mint didn't know if she could handle it. So, their little face-off ground consisted of mostly the treetops of a relatively thick forest. Some small buildings were kind of close, but Mint planned on keeping the battle towards the trees, and pushing the bird out farther from the town was a big part of her plan.

If she didn't get it in one or two hits, of course.

"Mint Arrow!" She held up her hands as a blue light formed the wing shaped bow and the heart shaped-arrowhead that connected the two medium-dark blue wings. "Prepare to get...uh...un-infused, you big fat kirema anima!"

Mint really needed to rethink her lines. How Ichigo always had no problem with thinking up what to say in battle, Mint didn't know.

She positioned her weapon to aim at the bird, and opened her mouth to take a breath to shout out her attack. Over the time she and the other Mews had spent fighting, they learned that, however lame and stupid, the more force involved with shouting out your attack's name, the more powerful it was.

"Ribbon! Mint-oof!"

Unfortunately, unless you finish shouting out your attack's name, the attack doesn't actually happen, force in your words or no. And right about at the time Mint was about to say the word "echo," the giant, greasy head of the monster shoved her into a tree.

Luckily for her, she was only bruised as her side was embedded into the rough bark of the trunk, and her dress wasn't really torn as she slid down said rough bark. That would have been rather awkward and embarrassing, even if the pigeon was the only living thing present that Mint knew of.

Extracting herself carefully from the gnarled roots of the tree, the bird-girl stood up with an angry look plastered all over her face.

"Alright, now you have made me mad, you big, dumb brute! Prepare to be taken down by the heir of the Aizawa house!' Her dark blue wings spread, and lifted her into the air. The pigeon made a sound which was somewhere in between a roar and a squawk, and flapped its own pudgy wings as it too became airborne.

"RIBBON! MINT ECHO!" Her arrow discharged a shot of crystalline blue energy, which hit directly on the pigeon's head. It shrieked one last time before, in another flash of light, the pigeon and the alien were separated from each other.

Mint sighed happily as she watched the now normal grey pigeon flap its wings quickly and leave, feeling as though she accomplished something.

"Impressive, Miss Aizawa."

The girl's blue hair jerked to the right as she snapped her head to look at the other girl who spoke. She could see no one, but her blue eyes narrowed in the direction she thought she heard the voice.

"Who's there? Show yourself, or else you'll face my Mint Echo!" She raised her bow to point at the direction she was facing.

"If you insist, Miss Aizawa." The ground rumbled, and Mint flapped her wings to leave the ground before she fell over.

A small fissure appeared in the ground near a cluster of trees, and the plants were toppled as a figure rose out of the ground. As the dust cleared, Mint was face-to-face with a girl that looked...slightly like Zakuro.

The girl was in her late teens, probably seventeen or so. She had blonde-brown hair that was styled in a way similar to Mint's friend, falling freely to a mid-torso level. Her grey-blue eyes were slightly slanted upwards, giving them a sort of exotic look. She wore a black, skin-tight three-quarter-sleeved shirt with a yellow number three on it, and a tan, pleated mini-skirt. Her hands were covered with thin brown gloves, and she had boots in Zakuro's Mew uniform style in the same dusty brown. On her right wrist was a slim little brown watch.

A smile spread across her face, and she bowed deeply. "A pleasure to see you again, Mint Aizawa."

Mint frowned. "Again? Where have I seen you before?"

The girl smirked. "I am afraid that I am not allowed to tell you that, since I am under strict orders not to divulge information crucial to our plans. My purpose for being here is to destroy you, but even so, not to tell you anything."

The Mew Mew aimed her weapon, and held it steady. "Who are you?"

"I am Number Three."

"Number Three? What kind of a name is that?" Mint smirked. Being named after a number was _definitely_ worse than being named after a plant.

Number Three raised one eyebrow. "Number Three is not my real name. It is my codename, given to me by my superior."

"Then what's your real name, or are you too afraid to give it to me?" Mint taunted.

"My name is not important."

The bird-girl scoffed. "A name is very important. I won't fight you until I know your name. Or...maybe you are just a little wimp, too afraid to give a twelve-year-old your real name."

Number Three's stormy eyes narrowed. "Well, if that is the case, my name is Sanishi."

"Your name still has the number three in it."

"Yes, but my name also has 'ishi' in it. My name means three stones, though I will use more than three." Sanishi raised her hands as her eyes flashed from their original color to a glowing yellow. A few pebbles dislodged themselves from the dirt Sanishi stood on, and flew around the girl in a circle. "As you probably can see, I am terra-kinetic. I can move the earth with my mind. Now, Mew Mint, prepare to die!"

Another rumble shook the earth, and Mint flew higher into the air.

"Hah! I'm not even on the ground, and yet you decide to throw and earthquake at me? Try again, Sanishi!" Mint yelled over the roar of the earthquake. She twisted in the air, aiming herself in a dive towards Sanishi. "Ribbon! Mint Echo!" An arrowhead of light zoomed towards her opponent, streams of light bouncing off of it in all directions.

"I am afraid that your attack," a boulder was ripped out of the earth to come in the path of Mint's arrowhead, "will have no effect on me."

"No way!" Mint muttered, as she looked down at her smirking, unharmed opponent as the rubble from what was the boulder settled around one the soil-filled ground.

Sanishi's eyes glowed again, and the ground around her feet was lifted into the air, her on it, on another boulder. Mint could see the two craters where the boulders were, and more were being created as Sanishi called forth more hunks of rock.

Pretty soon, the sky was filled with a two girls, one airborne because she had wings and the other because she was on top of a flying rock, and their attacks at each other. Laser-like, concentrated bursts of light slammed into more flying rocks or swirling clouds of dirt.

And pretty soon, one of them was getting tired.

_I don't know how long I can keep this up,_ though Mint as she shot another Mint Echo at Sanishi, who blocked her attack with another boulder. _She doesn't seem to be getting tired, but I don't know if I can shoot out many more Echoes._

"Ribbon! Mint Echo!" Another laser arrow zoomed towards Sanishi, and another boulder blocked it. But this time, the boulder was not shattered. A few shards broke off to create a small crater where the boulder and the Mew Mew attack made contact, but other than that, the rock was unharmed. "Oh no..."

_I'm losing power...I can't concentrate...I don't think the Mew Mews were meant for endurance battle..._ Mint thought, though her mind was dizzy from all the power she had expended during the course of the battle up to that point.

"Well, well, well," Sanishi began, "it appears that you are growing tired. Your attack barely did any damage to that boulder."

Mint glared at her as she struggled to keep her wings moving enough to stay in the air. _Yeah, like I didn't already notice that._

"Then I would assume that you are no longer able to shoot down my offensive attacks." She brought one gloved hand up as a large boulder flew up to float above her hand. "Die, Mew Mint!" The hand shot forward, and the boulder flew towards Mew Mint.

"Oh no!" Mint gasped. She flew to her left, but another boulder came up from her other side. She zoomed up, and the boulders collided and destroyed each other, but then another one took up their chase.

And then she couldn't fly anymore; she was too tired. Mint dove down to the ground, her wings aching, and started to run between the trees.

"You just made a big mistake."

An earthquake started. Mint was thrown around on the ground, and after at least fifteen seconds of constant tremors, she fell. Although the earthquake subsided, the earth around her left ankle swelled up and wrapped itself around her, holding her down. Mint's blue eyes focused on the boulder that was flying at her at an unnatural angle. Unless Sanishi broke her focus, there was no way Mint could survive the next thirty seconds, if she was lucky.

"MINT!"

Mint gasped as the boulder fell to the ground, very near to her. Her heart pounded with adrenaline as she looked up to Sanishi, who had just shrieked.

Kumotaka was flying around her face, pecking and slashing at the terra-kinetic girl. She was yelling at him to stop, shielding her face, and trying her best to send pebbles to fly up and hit him.

"Kumotaka!" Mint exclaimed happily, using the sharp edge of her weapon to smash the dirt holding her left ankle.

The bird shrieked one last time before flapping his wings, making space between him and the girl he had attacked.

Sanishi was breathing heavily, and two small cuts, one on her right cheek and one on her right shoulder, bled slowly.

"My focus...it is broken..." Sanishi whispered, her eyes a stormy-blue once more. She shook her head, not-quite-blonde hair flapping wildly. "No! I must regain my focus to carry out my orders! Prepare to fight again, Mew-" She stopped, and looked to one of her watch on her right wrist.

A crackly voice spoke through it. "Number Three! Retreat, you have failed."

Her eyes revealed an emotion that was part sadness, part disappointment, part bitterness, and part indifference. "Yes. I will retreat," Sanishi responded into her watch. She turned to look down at Mint and Kumotaka, who had taken the time to fly down to his friend. "You may not have been destroyed this time, Miss Aizawa, but next time, I am sure you will not have that luck."

And the boulder Sanishi stood on shot off into the distance.

"Well I guess that's the end of-what was that?" Mint asked, distracted by the sound of metal falling on a hard, non-metallic surface.

"I think your opponent dropped a small object." Kumotaka stated, flapping over to the direction of the sound. "I think it fell somewhere over here."

Mint walked over, kicking the dirt in various places to move the loose dirt of the forest. Finally, she felt her Mew Mew boot collide with a small metal disk, and she reached down to pick it up.

Smoothing it off to see what was on it, she saw a small, round, flat, silver disk with a pattern of a snake emblazoned on both sides.

"A snake." Kumotaka noted, taking a look at the medallion Mint held.

But Mint wasn't listening.

* * *

_It was a dark night, the night of the new moon. The faint light of the stars and the city lights bathed the alley in a pale, white, artificial glow._

_The only sound was of a scream._

_"What do you want with me?" Mint, who was walking home from a ballet lesson that ran late, heard the voice and immediately recognized it._

_"Zakuro?" She called. "Zakuro, are you okay?"_

_Another scream was heard, and Mint glared at the alleyways. Her voice definitely came from that direction._

_"Zakuro! Hold on, I'm coming!" Her feet slapped against the concrete as she ran into the alley. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness slowly, but after awhile, Mint saw the outline of her friend._

_She was on the ground, doubled over, and clutching her lower torso. Another figure was standing over her, shrouded in darkness. But Mint heard something. The sound of water dripping. No...not water...blood..._

_And it was coming from the figure's hand._

_The hand lashed down again, and Mint's eyes widened as she witnessed Zakuro's body being thrown against the alley's wall._

_She couldn't take it anymore. She ran forward._

_"No! Stop it! Don't hurt her!"_

_He laughed, and then did one of the worst things imaginable. He violated Zakuro, covering his hands with more blood._

_"Get away!"_

_"AAAAAAAH!" Zakuro shrieked, her body convulsing in pain._

_"ZAKURO! No! Stop it, you're hurting her!" Mint yelled, her eyes starting to tear. She raced forward, threw her arms around the model, and shielded her friend with her own body. The figure stopped, and Mint saw his arms were drenched in the blood of the wolf Mew Mew._

_And then he hissed, and ran off._

_Mint was confused. What sound had he just made? What was he?_

_"Wha-what are you-wait-" She looked down at her friend, whose long skirt barely qualified as an article of clothing, and shirt was in bad shape as well. Mint felt a warm liquid slowly spread itself on her own hands and dress. "Oh no, Zakuro, are you okay?"_

_Zakuro moaned, her eyes closed, and then was silent._

_"Miss, you'd better come with us." Mint lashed her head around to see who it was. A policeman from the nearby police box had run up, and was standing threateningly above her._

_Mint blinked a few times before she understood what he meant. "No! I didn't do anything!"_

_He scowled as a policewoman ran up to examine Zakuro. "Miss! Wake up!"_

_The first policeman took one look at the bloody girl, and took out a walkie-talkie. "Get me paramedics!"_

_The next few moments were a blur. Mint was still trying to understand what had happened, but the two police officers had yanked Zakuro away from her. Another, along with an ambulance, came up and grabbed her hands. As he held them tightly together behind her back, her eyes were fixed on Zakuro._

_"NO! I HAVE TO MAKE SURE SHE'S OKAY!" She shrieked as she was led away to a police car._

_Zakuro was put on a stretcher, and rolled into the ambulance._

_"Zakuro!"_

_The ambulance started up._

_"Zakuro!"_

_It started to drive away._

_"Zakuro!"_

_And then it was out of sight._

* * *

"Mint! Mint! Mint!" She blinked a few times, and looked at Kumotaka. "Are you well, Mint?"

"Yes." She looked down at the medallion. "Why did I remember that? Why?" Mint muttered softly.

"Mint, we should go back to the lab. Doctor Shiroyama needs to know about the attacks."

The Mew Mew nodded. "Yes, let's go."

* * *

"Here." Doctor Hoshiwa spat as she shoved a wad of bills into the man's outstretched hand. "You can't hurt my daughter or her friend, now."

"Nah, guess not. Just be quicker 'bout th' next payment, Doc."

She glared at him, and then stalked off. She wanted to spend some time with Nanao.

The man grinned, and lifted up his right wrist. "Hey, I got the money."

A crackly voice came out of his watch. "Very good, Number Two. Although Number Three failed in her mission, we can still get what we want."

* * *

**AN:** Wow. I am really; really sorry this took so long! It's been over a month since I last updated any story of mine, and the last story I updated wasn't even Tokyo Mew Mew (it was Read or Die, and it was a one-shot). Yeesh. Anyways, I really hope everybody liked this chapter! Sorry if my henchmen and villain are kind of Crusader-ish. After I finished this, I realized that my villains are like the Crusaders. Yeah. I'll try to keep the other three henchmen from being too Crusader-ish. Now that I think about it, Sanishi is kind of like Sweet Juliet (or whatever her name was, I only have read the first manga of A La Mode). While I'm on the topic of Sanishi, three characters went into her creation. Two of them are from Tokyo Mew Mew, and they are Zakuro and Pie/Pai. The other is Terra, from the animated Teen Titans. Her outfit, powers, look, and personality are all closely based off of Terra.

Now then, I'm going to really work hard to update sooner! This year I'm getting a lot of schoolwork, but I'll try to write as much as I can. I'm also almost done with the second In The Park story (Kisshu/Minto pairing), so I'll be taking a mini-break from this to finish that. I'm also working on my next major TMM project called (I think) Sannin. The name might change, though.

**Disclaimer:**Tokyo Mew Mew does not belong to me. It belongs to Mia Ikumi, Reiko Yoshida, Kodansha, and any other respective and legal owners.


	7. Four Snows

Chapter 7- Four Snows

Sanishi sighed, sitting down slowly onto a hard chair. She had just created that chair, or rather; her mind did it for her. The teenager wanted to sit down, and the rock below her obliged her.

If she could make a chair out of stone, a perfect replica of a Victorian antique, why couldn't she succeed in her missions?

"Number Three?" Sanishi looked up at the newcomer, brushing a strand of her brown-blond hair out of her face. "I heard you failed."

Her eyes turned cold, the grey-blue adding to the effect. "Yes, I failed. Is our leader going to punish me, Number Four? If he is planning on ending my life, I have already died once. That particular threat fails to scare me."

Number Four smiled, if only a little. "My dear Number Three, your second life will not end so soon. Our leader would not have brought us all back from the dead if he was going to kill us again."

Sanishi still hung her head, her hair falling in her face. "Yes, but I still feel...I feel it. Our leader's great disappointment in me. I do not like this feeling."

The man put his hand on her shoulder softly. "Yes, well, I must add that although you seem greatly saddened by this, you still put up a good fight. Our enemy, Mint Aizawa, would have lost."

The girl nodded, looking up at her fellow lackey. "Thank...thank you."

"Did I make you feel better?"

A small smile overtook her face. "Yes, I suppose it did."

"Will ya two stop flirtin' and get over here?" The two looked in surprise to another man.

"Well, hello, Number Two, how nice to see you." Number Four greeted kindly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I jus' came in to tell ya that Leader is talkin' to Number One." He drawled, hands on hips.

Sanishi stiffened. "Number One is talking to our leader?"

"Yeah, weren' ya listenin'?"

She nodded, looking down at her feet. "Number One is a very...scary person."

Number Four patted her shoulder. "I quite agree. This doesn't leave this room, but I sometimes wish that our high and exalted leader reincarnated somebody else instead of Number One. In fact, another sweet Number Three would have greatly helped our little team." He winked at the younger girl. She looked up at him, a little surprised.

Number Two just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, anyway, Leader wants ya, Number Four, to go and get whatever you're suppose' to get."

Number Four nodded, and bowed with a serene smile on his face. "Very well, then. Number Two, Number Three, I bid you all a fond farewell."

And soon, he left.

Number Two nodded, and walked out of the room, muttering to himself about high-classed jerks. Sanishi just stared at where Number Four had been, her eyes glassed over slightly.

"Goodbye...I will miss...you..."

* * *

"And, to conclude, because of the Reflective Property, x equals 4." The math teacher finished, much to the delight of his students.

As Mint put her books back in her bag, since class was over before lunch, she thought about it. _I mean, Mister Suzuki isn't a bad teacher; it's just, math is so boring! And he gives a lot more homework than my old tutors. Those teachers at least knew how busy a social life of one so important as I have._

"Hey, Akiko! We have tons of homework, huh?" Teruna smirked, walking out with her. They were going to eat lunch outside, since the school had an open campus lunch on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays (much to Mint's displeasure, she learned that Moriyama Chuugakkou was one of those schools that had a half-day on Saturdays).

"Yeah. I really don't know how I'm going to get it all done." Mint muttered, even though she knew she was lying. Her math tutor back in Tokyo had already started advanced geometry, and had finished the algebra course her Moriyama math class was halfway through. In other words, her math homework was going to be painless.

"Believe me, I know how you feel. I'm so not a math person. More of...a tennis person. Oh yeah!" Teruna flipped her braid over her shoulder. "That reminds me! When Saaya and Nanao get here," she motioned to a grassy patch the four would be eating on, "I have something to tell everybody!"

Mint wondered what excited Teruna so much as she opened her bentou box. Inside was the standard Shiroyama Bird Laboratories cafeteria lunch, which were provided for all residents. It wasn't too special; some rice with a tiny red umeboshi in the middle, some soba noodles mixed with assorted pickles, and cut up vegetables. She opened her water bottle as well, since pickles made her thirsty.

As soon as Nanao (who also had the same lunch Mint had) and Saaya arrived, Teruna made them all shut up so she could speak. "Okay, so the tennis club has a tournament to go to in Tokyo over the long weekend, since we have Monday and Tuesday off from school for the teachers to do stuff for school. My mom was thinking about bringing everybody along, since we'll have a ton of time to just hang!"

Saaya's eyes lit up. "YES! WE CAN GO TO DISNEYLAND!" And she started to chatter about how she went there when she was four, and how awesome the rides were, and how she had her picture taken with Cinderella, and...

"I think my mother will let me go. It sounds exciting, and I heard that the Edo Tokyo Museum is very interesting." Nanao explained, picking up one noodle with her chopsticks.

Saaya took to the slight topic change. "Oh yeah-yeah-yeah! I remember hearing about that! They've got that like, bridge, and the pagoda! And-and-and, that, uh, the little miniature of the town! That's got to be soooooo adorable!" She squealed.

Teruna rolled her eyes. "Whatever. My hopes are that our team will dominate the others. That would rock."

Saaya, who was in the middle of talking about how awesome the trip to Tokyo would be, suddenly noticed how silent Mint was. "Akiko? What's wrong? Can't you come, too?"

"Uh, well, I dunno..." Mint sighed. What was she going to do? If she went to Tokyo, wouldn't somebody recognize her? And...What if she ran into her parents or one of the other Mew Mews?

"Whaaaaaat? No! Akiko! You have to come, it won't be as fun without you!" The redhead whined. Mint looked from her, to the sad and wistful looking Nanao, to the slightly ticked-off Teruna.

So she made the weakest excuse she could possibly think of. "Uh, hold that thought, I have to go to the bathroom. Be right back!" With that, she dashed back into the school building.

"Yeah, right," muttered Teruna, crossing her arms.

Once inside, Mint ran over to her English classroom, which she knew would be empty. She slammed the door behind her, and leaned against it, breathing heavily.

Ichitori looked up from her desk to the newcomer. "What? Mint, what's wrong?" She set down her red pen and papers, and walked over to her student. "Did something happen?"

Mint slumped down into a chair next to the closet desk to the door. "Well, I guess not, but..."

The teacher rolled her eyes. "There's something wrong. You wouldn't have run in here if there wasn't. Now say what it is, or I'll give you detention."

The girl sighed. "Fine. My friends invited me to go to Tokyo over the long weekend."

Ichitori sat on a desk near her student. "And? What's wrong with that?"

"I could run into somebody I know in Tokyo. And then they'll know I'm not Akiko Kobayashi, but Mint Aizawa. And then...I don't know, I guess I'll lose my friends."

"What about your friends from Tokyo?"

Silence.

Mint looked down, and mumbled, "I have none."

The teacher rolled her dark brown eyes. "I doubt that. Nobody is completely friendless. What about your parents?"

"They threw me out. I guess I still have my dog, though." Mint muttered.

"Feh. Didn't you have friends from before the whole supermodel thing?" The woman asked, crossing her arms.

Mint shifted in her seat. "Well, yeah, but I don't think they want to be my friends anymore."

"Well, I for one-your bird's here." Ichitori stated sharply.

Her student looked confused. "Huh?"

"Over there," she pointed towards the window, "that eagle's over there."

"Kumotaka!" The girl exclaimed happily, dashing over to the window and throwing it open. "Why're you here?"

"I saw trees freezing over very rapidly two mountains over. Just over that mountaintop," he poked a wing towards one, "everything looks white. I am almost positive that it is the work of our enemy."

Mint and Kumotaka conversed in low tones for a little while, before Mint turned to Ichitori. "Um, Miss Ichitori? It's kind of an emergency...but I really need to go check out the mountain, so...uh..."

The woman nodded. "I'll write you a note. Go straight home after this-you threw up during lunch. Act sick." Mint nodded, before looking out the window.

"Mew Mew Mint Metamorphosis!" With that, her Mew Mew attire replaced her uniform, her old hairstyle came back, and her bird wings and tail popped out. "See you later, Miss Ichitori!" Then she opened the window, dove out, and flew away with Kumotaka in the direction of the ice-covered mountain.

When she arrived at the scene of the freeze, she immediately saw the man causing it. Mint called out her Mint Arrow in a hushed voice, and hid behind a tree.

"You know, Lady Mint, I can see you behind there." The man stated, looking directly there. "You can come out, I know you're there."

The girl stepped out from behind the frozen tree, although Kumotaka stayed behind, and aimed her weapon at the man. "What do you want?"

The man grinned, and Mint almost felt herself blushing. Well, she had a good reason! This man looked amazing. He had long black hair, which was pulled into a low ponytail that went down a ways past his shoulder, and his smooth bangs stopped right before his eyebrows. His eyes were a crystal blue, and shone in the sunlight. There was a serene smile on his face, which only added to the peaceful air about him. The man wore a long ice blue suit, with a white shirt underneath. He had a slightly darker blue tie on, and his gloves and shoes were the same color. Covering his right wrist, Mint noted, was a watch almost identical to the one that Sanishi wore, the only exception being that it was white.

"Good day, Lady Mint. Oh dear! How rude! I haven't introduced myself yet." He swept his right hand in front of his torso, and bowed deeply. "My name is Yonsetsu, although I also am called Number Four. I do believe you have met my good friend, Number Three, who I work with."

"Yonsetsu, huh? Well, prepare to go down, because Mew Mint doesn't like you!" Mint growled, although she was mentally wondering why she referred to herself in the third person.

Yonsetsu chuckled. "Oh no, I must politely decline. You see, I did not come here to fight, Lady Mint. My intentions are quite peaceful."

"Uh huh. Why?"

"Well, it is because my orders were to negotiate with you. The freeze was merely a way to ask you to come here." He flicked his hand at the frozen forest. "What I need is not you, but your bird, as well as the wolf Mew Mew, Miss Zakuro Fujiwara. Now, I understand that the girl is far from here, but the bird, Master Kumotaka, is quite close."

"Why do you want Kumotaka?" Mint asked, narrowing her eyes and focusing her aim on her opponent.

"Because of the chemicals in his blood. Did you know that for Master Kumotaka to talk, he was injected with human DNA along with a catalyst chemical? The chemical is an ingenious invention that carries the new DNA to every single cell in the body, and is carried in the bloodstream. This chemical fuses the new DNA with the old DNA in such a way that, if the original DNA is compatible, does not harm the host animal or human." Yonsetsu explained. "Now, this chemical is wanted by my leader. Or, should I clarify, the chemical used to fuse human DNA with Master Kumotaka's DNA and the chemical used to fuse grey wolf DNA with Lady Zakuro's DNA."

Mint shot a glance over to the tree where Kumotaka hid.

Yonsetsu continued to explain. "Now, because each person has unique DNA, the chemical used to bond the new DNA to their own is unique. All of the chemicals are slightly different. Do you understand?"

"Yes..."

"The chemical makeup of the chemicals used for Lady Zakuro and Master Kumotaka, when mixed together with a different catalyst chemical, one my leader has, the product is something my leader wants." Yonsetsu explained, before flashing a charming smile at Mint. "I'm afraid that's all I know. But anyways, Lady Mint, the fact is I need Master Kumotaka to extract the chemical from his body."

"Are you..." Mint trailed off, her thoughts racing. "Are you going to...kill...Kumotaka?"

"Sadly, yes, he will be killed. However, if you give him to us, you will be left unharmed. In fact, if you'd like, we'd never bother you again. A shame, really, you're such a pretty girl." Mint once again had to fight down a blush. She learned that day that an evil gentleman is a tough opponent. "It is your life or his."

Mint did not have to think for even a moment. She kicked off the ground, her wings pushing her towards Yonsetsu. "Never! I'll die before I let anybody hurt him! Ribbon! Mint Echo!" Her blue light attack zoomed towards the man, only to be blocked by a huge icicle that appeared out of thin air.

She landed a ways away from him, staring at the giant ice spear in his hand. "Yes, Lady Mint, this is my power. The kanji in my name means 'four snows,' with the 'yon' meaning 'four' and the 'setsu' meaning 'snow,' in this case. I can create snow and ice out of the water in the air. Is it not a wonderful power?" Yonsetsu asked, raising his hands.

Mint barely dodged the barrage of icicles aimed at her, and some ripped her dress. Her face reddened, and she clutched her side and front. "YOU PERVERT!"

Yonsetsu chuckled, looking away. "My apologies, Lady Mint. I was aiming to kill you, not to...expose you. Of course, if you hadn't flown out of the way, you wouldn't be in this predicament, now would you, hm?"

Mint glared at him. "You..."

"Well, what am I? Please, do tell Lady-" Yonsetsu stopped speaking and looked at his watch. Mint heard the same crackly voice come out of it.

"Retreat, Number Four."

"Very well," Yonsetsu said into the watch before looking back at the bird-girl. "I am truly sorry, Lady Mint, but my time with you has ended. I do wish I could have spent more time together with such a pretty girl such as yourself." Inside, Mint screamed at herself for blushing. "Good day!"

He raised his hands, and a large white light started to glow above them. Then, in a split second, the light expanded to form a gigantic, yet concentrated, swirling snowstorm. Mint raised one of her arms to block the snow from her eyes, and tried to look for Yonsetsu. However, Mint soon realized that Yonsetsu left, and soon turned her attention to the storm.

"Kumotaka!" She screamed, although she could barely hear herself. "Where are you?"

"Here, Mint!" She looked up to see the bird fighting against the winds. The girl reached up her hand not holding her dress, and grabbed onto his talons before pulling him down. "Mint! The snowstorm is coming out of that same white light in the very center. If you can fly up to it and use your attack, it may collapse and cause the storm to dissipate!"

Mint nodded. "It's worth a shot, anyway!" She was about to take off, but then realized she would need both hands to maneuver. "I can't! My dress is ripped!"

"I'll look away!" Kumotaka shrieked, taken aback. Mint nodded, and flapped her wings.

After what seemed like forever, she reached the center of the storm. The wind bit her bare skin, and the snow tore at her non-ripped clothing. Her eyes couldn't see through it well at all, but finally, the light from the center became visible. She flew as close as she could, although the wind kept pushing her back, and raised her Mint Arrow.

However, she couldn't keep it still. Five tries missed completely.

"Mint! Focus!" Mint barely could hear Kumotaka's voice over the roar of the storm.

"I'm trying!" She called back, even though she doubted he could hear her. Nevertheless, she tried one more time to destroy the center of the unnatural storm.

"Ribbon! Mint ECHO!" She yelled, flying forward at the same time to steady her aim. Her attack zoomed towards the center, and struck it. With a sound similar to an explosion, the white light and wind vanished, and the snow started to fall peacefully to the ground.

Mint sank to the ground, before realizing that Kumotaka was purposefully looking away. Confused, she looked down to see her dress was barely intact, her boots gone, and her gloves falling off. Blushing, she quickly transformed back into her normal self.

The two of them then proceeded to walk the rest of the way back to the labs, since one of them could not fly. By the time they arrived, the sun had almost reached the horizon.

Once inside, Mint looked for Doctor Shiroyama. When the three of them found a conference room to speak privately in, Mint told the story of the meeting with Yonsetsu.

"Ah, so this man of the four snows was an adversary to remember. He must have launched an attack that Mew Mint was not able to retaliate against with great speed!" Doctor Shiroyama mused.

"Yeah, and now my Mew Mew costume is ripped." Mint slumped against her cushioned chair. "Now what are we going to do?"

Silence.

"You two don't know, do you?"

"No, I am very sorry."

"I regret to announce that I am in the saddened state of not knowing."

Mint scoffed, before coughing. "Uh, I'm going back up to my room now. I think I have a cold."

As the girl left, Kumotaka and Doctor Shiroyama looked at each other. Silence pervaded the room as the two stared, careful not to blink or back down.

Then...

"Fine. I will take care of her." Kumotaka announced dejectedly, blinking. With a flap of his wings, he left the room as well, following his friend up to her room.

"I wonder how he will go about helping the girl to arrive at the happy state of being healthy. The bird Kumotaka is without opposable thumbs!" The man laughed, before leaving the conference room as well.

* * *

Disclaimer: Tokyo Mew Mew does not belong to me. It belongs to Mia Ikumi, Reiko Yoshida, Kodansha, and any other respective and legal owners. The town of Moriyama and all its inhabitants belong to me.

**Author's Note: Wow. Two weeks ago I posted the previous chapter, so at least this isn't a month late! Just to let anybody who's interested know, I was sick for five days, and this would have gone up four or five days earlier, but I was really not feeling up to it. Yeah. Please read and review!**


	8. Clouded Future

Chapter 8- Clouded Future

"Wait, Pudding, really?" Berry paused, leaning on the edge of the sink of the kitchen. "You kissed an alien?"

Pudding giggled, focusing her attention on Berry, Lettuce, and the three red rubber balls she decided to start juggling (with only her right hand). "Kinda!"

"What'd'ya mean, 'kinda'?"

"I gave him a candy drop!"

Berry looked at her friend like she grew another hand, while Lettuce smiled gently. "She passed him a candy drop via her mouth." Berry blinked, her red eyes showing absolutely no comprehension what so ever. "Pudding had a candy drop in her mouth, and when Tart's mouth was open, she dropped the candy into his mouth."

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND NOW, BERRY-BERRY?"

"Oh! Yeah, heh, now I get it!" Berry giggled as she smacked her forehead, which caused her blonde ponytail to flop around. Because the cafe closed for the day for an all-day cleaning session, the girls didn't need to wear their uniforms.

But still...all three were annoyed that they were the only ones present. Sure, Zakuro hadn't technically been released from the hospital, and nobody knew where Mint lived, but that still left Ichigo and Ringo. The two, however, were lucky, and Zakuro invited them and Keiichiro to come along with her when she went out to lunch.

Which meant that the three non-mentioned girls (and Ryou; _somebody_ needed to make sure Pudding didn't destroy Cafe Mew Mew) were stuck cleaning. All day.

But breaks were often, thanks to Pudding's abilities to push Ryou over the edge and Lettuces abilities to make him stay calm, so the three Mew Mews found time to...you know, gossip.

"Anyway, Berry? How is Tasuku?" Lettuce asked, smoothing her blue-and-white plaid knee-length skirt. Her hair, unlike Berry's, stayed in its normal pigtail braids. Pudding also didn't change her hairstyle, since, really, Pudding could _not_ be Pudding if she didn't look like Pudding! Or so she said.

The aforementioned almost-thirteen-year-old giggled. "He's great! Just yesterday, we went to Tokyo Disneyland, and it was so fun! But he almost got sick from one of the roller coasters. I think it was something he ate, he really doesn't seem like the type to get motion sickness."

Pudding nodded enthusiastically, her four small braids bobbing up and down. "Yes yes yes! He's so awesome on his roller skates! Which brings me to my next point. WHY ISN'T HE HERE TO HELP US?"

The bunny-cat-girl leaned backwards a little, since Pudding decided to go for the up-close-and-personal-glare, and had to struggle to keep from falling in the sink. "He has a dentist appointment! He said he might come by in an hour!"

"Pudding, stop scaring Berry," a young male voice reprimanded as the door swung open. "Hi Berry, Pudding," he looked at Lettuce, "Lettuce."

Lettuce turned a few shades pinker, and held her hands behind her back. Her green eyes swung down to stare past her white short-sleeved shirt, skirt, socks and shoes, and down to the tiled floor. "Um, hi...Ryou."

Ryou raised a blonde eyebrow, before turning to Berry and Pudding. "When were you saying Tasuku might come?"

"An hour, maybe more. I dunno though."

"Ah, okay." The young boss turned on one black-boot heel to leave, but then remembered something. "Oh yeah, almost forgot. There have been an increase in kirema anima sightings."

Lettuce blinked. Berry blinked. Pudding...picked up the rubber juggling balls she had forgotten about and dropped.

"Wait, what?" Berry asked, her hands going to her pink dress' waist. "More of them?"

"I'm surprised nobody shouted."

"Come on, Ryou, tell us more!"

"Well," he began, walking back over to the three of them. "People have seen some weird, big animals recently. More than, say, a month ago."

Berry looked at him. She really had to get as much information as possible, as she was a co-leader of the band of Mew Mews, and Lettuce was too busy blushing to listen. Pudding...well, they had long since given up on trying to make her retain valuable orders. That nine-year-old acted like a monkey with a short attention span on a sugar high all the time. "That's it?"

"Pretty much."

"Come on, Ryou, there _has_ to be more."

"Other than you all, plus Ringo and Ichigo, need to fight them?" Ryou yawned, smoothed his blonde hair, and absentmindedly brushed his collar. "I guess it's a little dangerous because two of our Mews are...unable to fight, but hey, you and Ringo didn't help the original Mew Mews fend off the aliens. I think five can do it again."

Lettuce, Pudding, and Berry all stiffened. Recently, they'd stopped mentioning Zakuro and Mint, since it all was just too strange and painful. The older Mew Mews even decided that Pudding should stay away from Zakuro for a while, since she didn't know the details of what had happened.

Surprisingly, Zakuro agreed.

Even still, none of the present four individuals believed she did anything wrong. None of them could see Mint committing that crime, especially not to a girl. Besides, she was twelve years old!

No, even though it was suspicious that Mint ran from the police, they couldn't believe them.

They couldn't even consider that Mint was guilty. Never.

And yet, they still couldn't bring themselves to mention her name.

* * *

"Thank you for coming," Zakuro stated, eyeing her lunch. It was simple, just some yakisoba, but Ichigo said it was a good restaurant.

Keiichiro smiled softly at the oldest Mew Mew. "It's our pleasure, Zakuro. We're happy to see that you're recovering so well." Zakuro took a long look at her boss, who wore a simple crisp white shirt and brown pants. Casual, yet formal.

"Yesyesyes!" Ringo bounced, her bow bouncing with her. This time, luckily for Zakuro, a thick blue bow replaced the thin red one from before. Her outfit matched the bow; she wore a light green tank top with a white cloud pattern, short sky blue shorts, white folded-over socks, and black shoes.

Ichigo nodded, looking at her cousin. The one thing that annoyed Zakuro was that Ichigo wore the same thing as Ringo, just pink where the green was. _I mean, I know they're cousins, but still, _she thought as she brushed back her lilac hair. The model opted for a light purple sundress, plain, and simple.

"Umm...so, Zakuro, you're feeling better now, right?" Ichigo asked, a little uncomfortable, as she wrung her hands in her lap.

The older teenager let a small smile twitch on her face. "Yes, Ichigo, I feel a lot better." The wolf-girl felt even more like her old self (health wise) when Ichigo lit up after hearing that. "In fact, the hospital is going to discharge me later this week. I'll still have to go in for frequent medical check-ups, but I can go home."

Keiichiro looked at her, frowning. "Zakuro...you're renting an apartment here, right? To go to high school?" Zakuro stiffened. How did he know about that? "I'm not sure if it would be great for you to live by yourself...especially if you get worse overnight."

Ringo's eyes started to water. "W-what? You live by yourself?" Zakuro glared at Keiichiro, and Ringo took that as an affirmative. "That's so saaaaad! Zakuro! You should stay with me! Or Ichigo!"

Ichigo grinned. The thirteen-year-old had such a...kind smile. "Zakuro, you can stay with me if you want. We have a guest room, and my parents would be okay with it."

Now Zakuro felt uncomfortable. She _liked_ living alone! It made her focus on her studies as well as her modeling career. But...Ichigo was her friend...plus, she was the leader of the Mew Mews. There was no WAY she would let anything happen to her friend.

"...Maybe..."

"Yay!" Ichigo squealed. "It'll be so fun! Ohmigosh, Zakuro, it'll be like one big sleepover!"

"Uh huh."

Ringo looked at her yakisoba, took a huge bite, chewed it, swallowed it, and then stared at Zakuro before speaking. "Hey, so...we're going to still fight the kirema anima, right?"

"Well," Keiichiro began, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "Yes, and no. Zakuro, it might be a good idea for you to take some time to fully heal. The transformations and battles might put too much of a strain on your healing process, so I think it would be beneficial for you to not fight for awhile. If you decide to stay with the Momomiya family, I want you to be with Ichigo at all times, or her parents. I want you to be safe, and I want somebody to be able to contact the hospital as soon as possible if an emergency occurs."

Zakuro glared at him, but fought the urge to say, "I'm fine by myself," since he looked genuinely worried.

As the other three then turned the topic to the latest movie they had seen, Zakuro looked down at her yakisoba, playing with a noodle with her chopsticks. A carrot shred slid out of her grasp, and dropped onto the rest of the noodles.

_"Hey, Zakuro, look! A yakisoba stand!" Mint dragged her "older sister" over to the stand, looking at the steaming dish. "Mm! With carrots! They taste so good in yakisoba. I'm getting some; do you want one, Zakuro? My treat!" Mint hugged Zakuro's arm, looking up at Zakuro's face with admiration and happiness._

Zakuro sighed, forcing the memory out of her mind. That was the day before Berry became Mew Berry, when they were walking home from the cafe. Mint said she wanted some food, and then spotted the yakisoba stand. Zakuro shrugged when she asked if the model wanted any, so Mint ordered two. They ate at a nearby table.

Mint...there was no way she raped Zakuro. None. _I mean, she...no, it wasn't romantic. Not at all, she just felt...really close to me..._

* * *

Mickey whined, putting his fluffy paws up on the windowsill. He stared out at the scenery, resting his chin on the sill.

He barked, wagging his tail slightly. He missed Mint.

She would always hug him, and say how much she loved him.

Where had his Mint gone? He missed her so much. Her parents were no comparison.

The mansion felt...so empty...

Without Mint.

* * *

"Hey, Teruna!" Mint waved as she jogged up to her friend. They had arranged to meet outside Yama no Mieru Cafe, a small cafe with a menu similar to Cafe Mew Mew, but with less selections. Mint decided to wear a yellow three-quarter sleeved shirt with a cyan knee-length pleated skirt, along with white socks and orange slip-on shoes. A small yellow ribbon acted as a hair band, with the bow positioned at the top of her head.

Teruna waved. She wore a grungy brown long-sleeved shirt with moss green cargo pants, and her bushy blue-green hair fell down her back in her trademark single braid. "Yo. Saaya and Nanao are coming...but Nanao had to stop at the library on her way. They'll be here in like, ten minutes or something."

"Cool."

The other girl raised an eyebrow, and crossed her arms. "While you're here and there's no conversation...Akiko, what was with your little freak-out yesterday? I mean, tomorrow's Saturday, and my mom needs to know who's coming before school. So...you know, you've got today to think about it." She sounded a bit angry about...Thursday.

Mint looked away. She didn't want to go to Tokyo...but... "I'm not sure. Teruna, how about I call you this evening with my answer? I promise to think it over, but I'm...really...well, I don't..."

"Well? Spit it out, already!" Teruna snapped, tapping her foot. "Whatever it is, you can tell us! Sheesh! What, did you kill somebody, or something?"

_Wow, that wasn't that far off,_ Mint thought to herself, though she didn't answer verbally.

Before Teruna could shoot anything back, they heard someone's voice. "Teruna! Akiko! We're here!" Saaya sprinted up to the two of them, her red hair flowing in the breeze. Her normal yellow ribbon held it up in a style similar to Mint's, although the bow sat at the base of her neck, hidden by her hair. She had changed from her school uniform, like the others, into normal clothes. Her outfit consisted of a red halter-top dress over a skin-tight yellow short-sleeved shirt, and she wore orange flip flips. How she was able to sprint in those things, Mint would never know.

Nanao walked up to the two, her black skirt twirling between her legs. She wore what she usually wore, a black skirt and black vest over a white collared shirt, white tights, and black Mary Jane-styled shoes. Her short black hair fell to her shoulders, straight, and not a strand out of line. "Good afternoon! I'm sorry we're late."

"Aw, come _on_ Nanao, we don't care!" Teruna laughed.

Saaya giggled, then looked at Mint. "Akiko, are you coming to Tokyo with us?"

Silence.

"Uwaaa! You mean you aren't?"

"I have to think about it some more."

Saaya's dark red eyes glistened. "B-but...it wouldn't be FUN without you! Okay! Teruna, if Akiko's not going, I'm not going!" She stomped her right foot on the ground to emphasize her point. Her flip-flop flopped along with it. "She shouldn't be here alone, that would be so sad! Disneyland can wait!"

Nanao looked quickly between her three friends, and then looked down. "I guess...I should stay home too, then...I can visit the Edo Tokyo Museum some other time."

The bird-girl sighed. She knew how much her friends wanted to go to Tokyo, and Teruna would be so much happier if her friends went with her and cheered her on at the tournament.

_Since when did being Akiko become so hard? _Mint thought as she watched Saaya and Teruna argue. _It's almost not worth it to live here, in Moriyama, as Akiko. Maybe I should just, I don't know, turn myself in or something. Relieve my friends of the pressure._

_Ugh. I can't believe I'm thinking so...unlike how I usually think. I need to be selfish again,_ she thought, smirking a little. "You know, I think I will go to Tokyo. I'd like to see...the Tokyo Tower. Go up to the top. See the view...like from a bird's eye, or something."

"REALLY?" Saaya squealed before squeezing Mint in a short, tight, friendly hug. Teruna shoved Mint playfully, and Nanao just grinned. "OHMIGOSH! This will be SO fun! I know! We'll hit all the shopping places one day, cheer for Teruna at all her games, then Edo, then the tower, then DISNEYLAND! Wheeeee!"

Mint then watched the three girls chatter about plans.

_Like I'll be able to be Akiko there._

_Maybe I _should _turn myself in._

* * *

Kumotaka clucked as the branch he sat on swayed in the wind. He surveyed the scene below him solemnly, it looked as if his darling little Mint doubted herself.

_I wonder if she will be fine after this trip?_ He wondered mentally what could happen there. _Would not it be horrible if...she was to be caught by the police? It would be so easy to tip her off to an officer. Or lead a reporter to her. Or have her stand by a picture of herself as Mint Aizawa, so somebody would see the similarities. Mint is not acting very thoughtfully right now. It is a large threat to her personal well being to go to Tokyo._

_It would be so easy to exploit her weaknesses there._

He glared at her friends. "They know she has a secret," he mumbled to himself, this time out loud. Who would hear him? The branch he stood on hid him from sight, since it was leafy and pretty high. The sound wouldn't travel down to the sidewalk and cafe. "I wonder...what if she found out _my_ secret? That would be...rather disastrous. Although, I should probably tell him that she's going to Tokyo, so he can prepare."

The Harpy eagle hissed at the thought as he edged closer to the trunk of the tree. "Everything would be ruined if she found out about me...all my hard work..."

"The whole plan would fall apart."

* * *

Number Two smirked to himself as he strolled down to Moriyama streets, his hands in his pockets. Really, he looked like any other pedestrian in the city, as he wore a casual suit. Only his hat and sunglasses made him look any different, but he made sure to exit from the Moriyama Eye Clinic to make it look like they were for medical reasons only.

Not shield his identity from Mint Aizawa.

Yama no Mieru Cafe was conveniently located across the street from Suzuki Books, a small, privately owned bookstore with a large number of books displayed outside on racks. It made him look innocent enough to pick one up and pretend to glance through it while watching Mint from across the street. He made the top of the book, which happened to be about the local trees, just under Mint's image, so he could see her even better.

He saw Mint giggle as one of the other girls, the redhead, made a joke or shared a piece of gossip. Whatever it was, Number Two didn't care. He just wanted to watch Mint.

Then, a small movement in the pine next to her caught his eye. The man looked up, and saw Kumotaka.

Kumotaka also saw him.

They made eye contact, and Number Two nodded, reaching his hand up to tip his hat towards the bird in a friendly manner. Then, the bird nodded, and took off, flying in the direction of the Shiroyama Laboratories.

Number Two then turned his focus back to Mint, who had received her pastry. Number Two couldn't tell which kind, since, you know, it was across the street, and his vision wasn't _that_ great.

"Well, ya li'l' Minty girly, I see ya al'ri'. Yep, I see ya." He sneered. "'Nd when our plans succeed, I won' see ya anymore. 'Cause you'll lose. May'e 'ven die. Or else, someth'n' bad'll jus' hap'n. I dunno."

"But you'll def'nately lose. 'Cause I know someth'n' ya don'."

"Hey, sir?" Number Two looked over to see the owner of the store staring at him. "Are you going to buy that?" She sounded...annoyed. And a little scared.

The man laughed roughly, and tossed the book back at her before walking away.

She haughtily put the book back on its rack, dusted it off, and glared at his receding figure. "Creep."

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew; it belongs to Mia Ikumi, Reiko Yoshida, Kodansha, and any other respective and legal owners.

Author's Note: Whew! Sorry about that! This chapter took so long…and it's about 3000 words, yet no action! Sorry! Number Two's totally awesome name will have to wait. Although it may not be that awesome…although I liked Sanishi and Yonsetsu myself. Heheh. Anyways, I had HUGE Writer's Block on this one, but I know what's going to happen now. I just needed a chapter to tighten tension, flesh out and play around with some characters, and just give some space between attacks. And figure out Number Two. I still don't have him all planned out. I know pretty much everyone but him. Grr. But after this, I think the action will pick up. I mean, the next day is, in the world of Flying Solo, Saturday. So yep... Yeah…so I hope the next chapter will go up soon. I'm not sure though. I have to finish other stuff, and school is going to start up on Tuesday (sob). Yup, and thanks to the people who have reviewed so far. You're a huge help. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 8, and please review so I know what you think!


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